October 25, 2007

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I'm on my way out to California. I'm looking forward to seeing Governor Schwarzenegger, to thank him for all the good work that the state and local authorities are doing to help the good people of Southern California battle these wildfires. I will assure the people of California that the federal government will be deploying¹ resources, assets, and manpower necessary to help fight these fires. As well, I will assure them that there's a -- because of the declaration I signed yesterday, there will be help for the people of California. Evidently the winds are more favorable today, which should be encouraging to the firefighters.

I'm also looking forward to spending some time with some of the firefighters. We've got some incredibly brave citizens who are risking their lives to protect people and property in California, and we owe a great debt of gratitude² to our nation's firefighters.

It's a sad situation out there in Southern California. I fully³ understand that the people have got a lot of anguish⁴ in their hearts. They just need to know a lot of folks care about them. Looking forward to my trip out there.

Thank you.

END 7:33 A.M. EDT