Washington - Sharply criticised for his slow response to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster, President George Bush moved on Wednesday to assert a leading role in efforts to combat wildfires in California.
Bush, who will visit fire-ravaged southern California on Thursday, begins his workday Wednesday by participating in a secure video teleconference at the White House with administration officials on the California wildfires.
Bush declared that California - where more than half a million people were ordered to evacuate Tuesday as wildfires raged for a third day - was eligible for federal aid overnight Monday to Tuesday.
The president wants to "witness firsthand" the struggle against the blazes and make sure that state and local authorities are getting what they need from Washington, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said on Tuesday.
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'We send our prayers and thoughts with those who've been affected' Bush, who discussed the trip by telephone with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, "wants to make sure to deliver a message in person to the victims that he has them in his thoughts and prayers," she said.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, already in California, is to brief Bush and his assembled cabinet by video conference during a meeting at 9.30am (13H30 GMT) on Wednesday, the White House said.
The trip to California comes as the White House worked to assure the US public that it had learned its lesson from the botched response to Hurricane Katrina.
Katrina slammed into the US Gulf Coast August 29, 2005. About 1 500 people were killed by the storm and its after effects, and tens of thousands fled the region and relocated to other states.
Towns throughout the states of Louisiana and Mississippi were devastated. New Orleans was especially hard hit when levies surrounding the city burst, resulting in massive flooding.
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