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President Obama Tours Wildfire Damage in Colorado

Summary: 
President Obama travels to Colorado to view the devastation caused by one of the state's worst wildfires.
President Barack Obama Looks at a Map of Fires

President Barack Obama looks at a map of the fires with officials at the Southeast Family Center YMCA in Colorado Springs, Colo., June 29, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

 
President Obama traveled to Colorado to view the devastation caused by one of the state's worst wildfires, which has been burning near Colorado Springs since Saturday. After touring some of the damaged areas, the President spoke to the press briefly at a local fire station:

I think what you see here is an example of outstanding coordination and cooperation between federal, state and local agencies.  We have been putting everything we have into trying to deal with what’s one of the worst fires that we’ve seen here in Colorado.  And it’s still early in the fire season, and we still got a lot more work to do.  But because of the outstanding work that’s been done, because of not only the coordination but also some unprecedented arrangements that have been made with military resources combined with the civil resources, we’re starting to see progress.

Obviously, as you saw in the some of these subdivisions, the devastation is enormous.  And our thoughts and prayers go out to all the families who have been affected.

One of the things that I’ve tried to emphasize is that whether it’s fires in Colorado or flooding in the northern parts of Florida, when natural disasters like this hit, America comes together.  And we all recognize that there but for the grace of God, go I.  We’ve got to make sure that we have each other’s backs.  And that spirit is what you’re seeing in terms of volunteers, in terms of firefighters, in terms of government officials.  Everybody is pulling together to try to deal with this situation. 

 See a photo gallery from the President's visit to Colorado