Hunter Heads Home to District Ravaged by Wildfires
California congressman's San Diego neighborhood is among those evacuated.
Oct. 23, 2007 — -- California Rep. Duncan Hunter is AWOL from Capitol Hill today, but for good reason.
Instead of casting votes, the Republican presidential hopeful is in his home state trying to help his constituents with the wildfires that are raging in their district. But he's not sleeping at home. Hunter's neighborhood has been evacuated.
And it's not the first time.
"We lost ours in the last fire," said Hunter today, referring to a 2003 blaze that burned 2,000 homes around San Diego, including Hunter's.
Speaking today from his provisional office at the Lakeside Rodeo Ground outside San Diego, Hunter said, "The rebuild was finished just last week, and I was getting ready to spend the night in the place for the first time when our canyon was evacuated."
He said there is a fire across a lake from his home, but he's hopeful his newly rebuilt house will be spared.
In addition to being a long-shot presidential candidate, Hunter is the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee.
But he isn't sitting around with binoculars charting the fire's progress.
Hunter said today he's been on the phone with Lt. Gen. Stephen Blum, the head of the National Guard, trying to arrange details regarding the guard's firefighting C-130s, all of which are currently en route to California. With the C-130s on the way, Hunter said he has been trying to help line up the fire retardant that will go in the planes once they arrive in California.
As the former House Armed Services Committee chairman, Hunter knows better than most that government bureaucracy has the potential to slow things down.
But Hunter praised Blum for being a "forward-thinking" commander. "He ordered a training exercise to send the planes out here without having to wait for all the government paperwork," Hunter said.
At the rodeo ground office, Hunter's staff has been helping constituents get aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"You've got to look out for your constituents," Hunter said today, explaining that work in Washington and on his presidential campaign will have to be put on hold for the moment. "You've got to take care of your people."
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