William Craig Fugate (born May 14, 1959) is the former administrator of the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

. As director for the Florida Emergency Management Division, he oversaw the " Big 4 of '04" and as the administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he organized recovery efforts for a record of eighty-seven disasters in 2011.

Early life

Fugate was born at Jacksonville Naval Air Station to William Roland, a senior chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy, and Carol Charlotte Fugate. In 1970 at the age of 11, he lost his mother and then his father in 1974 at the age of 16. He attended high school at Santa Fe High School and trained as a volunteer firefighter, then attended fire college and paramedic school at Santa Fe College, began a job as an emergency

paramedic A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...

and eventually rising to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

with

Alachua County Alachua County ( ) is a county in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 278,468. The county seat is Gainesville, the home of the University of Florida since 1906, when the campus ope ...

Fire Rescue.

Career

Emergency administrator

Beginning in 1987, he served for 10 years as an emergency manager for the county before moving up to the state level as deputy director for the Florida Emergency Management Division and then became director in 2001 under Florida Republican governor Jeb Bush. The appointment from the opposing party was considered a favorable indication of the respect Fugate's career had earned. As director, he coordinated the state's response to

Hurricane Charley Hurricane Charley was the first of four separate hurricanes to impact or strike Florida during 2004, along with Hurricane Frances, Frances, Hurricane Ivan, Ivan and Hurricane Jeanne, Jeanne, as well as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to ...

Hurricane Frances Hurricane Frances was the second most intense tropical cyclone in the Atlantic during 2004 and proved to be very destructive in Florida. It was the sixth named storm, the fourth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hu ...

, Hurricane Ivan, and

Hurricane Jeanne Hurricane Jeanne was a Saffir–Simpson scale, Category 3 hurricane that struck the Caribbean and the Eastern United States in September 2004. It was the deadliest hurricane in the Atlantic basin since Hurricane Mitch, Mitch in 1998 Atlantic hur ...

in 2004 and

Hurricane Dennis Hurricane Dennis was an early-forming major hurricane in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Dennis was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season. F ...

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

, and

Hurricane Wilma Hurricane Wilma was an extremely intense and destructive Atlantic hurricane which was the most intense storm of its kind and the second-most intense tropical cyclone recorded in the Western Hemisphere, after Hurricane Patricia in 2015. Part ...

in 2005. He was criticized for the lack of ice, water, and other supplies distributed after Hurricane Wilma despite his warnings to those staying in the area to stock up on three days' worth of supplies. He was awarded the National Guard Association of Florida Hall of Fame in 2006.

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Fugate was considered for the position as director of the

by president

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

after sharp criticism and the resignation of

Michael D. Brown Michael DeWayne Brown (born November 8, 1954) is an American attorney and former government official who served as the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from 2003 to 2005. He joined FEMA as general counsel in 2001 an ...

. Later, due to Fugate's experience with

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

's extreme weather, he was appointed as the FEMA director in May 2009 by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

. His nomination received bi-partisan support in Congress although Louisiana senator Republican David Vitter threatened to hold up his nomination until his concerns over the handling of Hurricane Katrina by Brown were answered by FEMA. In 2010, as director of FEMA, he oversaw a record of eighty-one disaster declarations and superseded that record in 2011 with eighty-seven. He was criticized in 2012 by Brown for his early response to Hurricane Sandy in which he positioned recovery resources prior to the storm's arrival. In response, Fugate said that he "emphasized the importance of strong building codes and risk management before disasters strike". FEMA - 11595 - Photograph by Andrea Booher taken on 10-07-2004 in Florida

FEMA - 11595 - Photograph by Andrea Booher taken on 10-07-2004 in Florida

Waffle House Index

Fugate is known for his " Waffle House Index", whereby he determines the level of attention a disaster area requires based on whether the Waffle House is open at the time emergency services arrive. Fugate told ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' that, "Waffle House has a very simple operation philosophy: get open." His theory is that if a Waffle House is open, keep driving. If it's damaged but serving a limited menu then the community needs help. If it's closed, then it means that the situation is really bad and needs the most attention. The strategy is particularly helpful in the South where Fugate is from, but becomes a challenge elsewhere where the Waffle House isn't as popular and local chains like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts do not share the same "get open" philosophy.

Thunderbolt exercises

As administrator, Fugate instituted "thunderbolt exercises" into FEMA's preparations. Without notice, Fugate will walk into the emergency operations center and declare a fake disaster and the scenario obstacles.

Social media

Fugate spearheaded efforts to incorporate digital media into federal emergency management. He led the effort to develop smart phone apps allowing users to report disasters with photos and use

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

to identify the location.

Work after FEMA

In November 2020, Fugate was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...

Personal life

Fugate married his wife Sheree in 2002 and they currently live in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

. Fugate enjoys sea kayaking. Outside of government he is also the founder of disastersrus.org, a website with disaster planning advice and links to disaster-related resources. Fugate is a licensed

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

operator. His FCC call letters are KK4INZ. He earned his Technician Class license in 2010. He upgraded to General Class in 2014. He is a member of the Alexandria (VA) Amateur Radio Club. He was a keynote speaker at the 2014 ARRL Convention in Hartford, Connecticut.

References

External links

FEMA biographyThe ''Atlantic Monthly'' dispatchwww.disastersrus.orgThe Emergency Manager Project
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fugate, Craig 1959 births American firefighters Federal Emergency Management Agency officials Florida Democrats Living people Obama administration personnel People from Gainesville, Florida State cabinet secretaries of Florida