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Wildfires Force Ex-FEMA Director Brown To Evacuate

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Jan 8, 2009 4:07 pm US/Mountain

Wildfires Force Ex-FEMA Director Brown To Evacuate

BOULDER, Colo. (AP/CBS4) ― Michael D. Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was among those forced to flee his home by the wildfires in Colorado's Boulder County.

Brown's home north of Boulder was spared, but he and his wife, Tamarra, spent Wednesday night at a friend's rental apartment in nearby Longmont. Brown said he took a "go kit" stuffed with medication and cash -- something he kept handy during his FEMA tenure when he was called out on disasters.

Brown said he was working in his home office Wednesday when his Saint Bernard, Bogart, started barking at a sheriff's deputy in his driveway. The deputy told him he had to leave.

"To me it was, 'It's all automatic,"' Brown told The Associated Press. "No question in my mind. I didn't ask how far the fire was. They said it was mandatory."

"The pictures that came to my mind as I was leaving were wildfires that I had worked in California," Brown told CBS4. "Understanding the devestation these fires can cause and having seen that for six years all over the world. It was 'okay, this can happen to me now. What's important?' The dogs, called my wife after we left the area. We had backed up everything digitally."

Brown said the "go kit" also contained important documents and family photos on computer disks.

Brown watched firefighters battle the blaze about a half-mile from his home.

"We never think of the fact that something like this can happen," Brown said. "One minute I'm sitting in my office and the next there is a deputy in my driveway telling me I have to leave.

"This kind of stuff can happen any time, anywhere."

President George W. Bush appointed Brown to head FEMA in 2003. Brown was heavily criticized for FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina and resigned afterward. He was ridiculed after Bush publicly praised him, saying he did a "a heck of a job," while thousands desperately waited for help.

Brown has worked as a consultant since leaving FEMA.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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