As firefighters neared containment of the worst wildland fires in California history, incident commanders and state fire service leaders involved in the battle briefed President Bush, Gov. Gray Davis and Gov.-Elect Arnold Schwarzenegger. Those with direct involvement in the operations described their efforts to the president in a war room established for his visit at Gillespie Airfield in El Cajon, Calif.

Three International Association of Fire Chiefs leaders were among those who gave the president an overview of the fires. Chief Jeff Bowman, San Diego Fire Department; Chief Bill McCammon, president of the California Association of Fire Chiefs; and Chief Ernest Mitchell, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, briefed the president and focused their comments on what is necessary to improve performance and prevent incidents of this magnitude in the future.

“He just wanted to be told what we needed,” Mitchell said after the meeting. Mitchell used his time with the president to focus attention on the critical need to manage fuels in the wildland urban interface, vividly describing homes in these areas as “wooden boats on lakes of gasoline.”

“We've noticed in these fires, be they in Colorado or Florida or California — the thing that each and every community needs help with is thinning out the fuels,” Mitchell said. “What we need to do is to impact the fuel before these fires start, because once they start we can't really extinguish them unless conditions change drastically or substantially, or they run out of fuel.”

Mitchell also told the president that the IAFC would follow up the briefing with a letter of specific recommendations from a national perspective to identify other policy issues that the federal government must address.

“This meeting with President Bush was important since it focused national attention on this issue,” Mitchell said.

John Hawkins, incident commander of the Cedar Fire, briefed Bush on the largest of the fires, which blackened 281,000 acres.

“President Bush has an excellent understanding of the challenges that fire chiefs and firefighters face in combating wildland/urban interface fires,” said Mitchell. “I was impressed with his understanding of the complex issues, and I know that he will work to focus the federal government on doing what it can to assist state and local governments with this problem.”

The president's visit also included a helicopter tour of the devastated areas and a speech to firefighters, emergency workers and volunteers.

The Southern California fires destroyed nearly 3,600 homes, blackened more than 743,000 acres of brush and timber and killed 22 people, including one firefighter.

In his remarks to the firefighters, emergency workers and volunteers, Bush applauded the efforts of everyone involved in fighting the wildland fires, and he thanked the leaders who had briefed him earlier in the day.

“I think when people realize the scope of the fires, the historic nature of these fires, they'll realize what a super-human effort you all put in to save lives. This is, to me, an ultimate act of sacrifice,” Bush said.

At the height of the fires the last week of October, California was spending an estimated $9 million each day fighting the wildfires. The total cost of fighting the blazes could reach $200 million, according to local published reports.

The president acknowledged he brought no additional federal fire aid for Southern California. According to the Los Angeles Times, the federal government has promised about $3 million in assistance.

For the full text of the president's speech, visit www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031104-4.html.