WASHINGTON (AP) -- R. David Paulison was just six weeks into his new job as fire chief in Florida's Miami-Dade County when Hurricane Andrew struck, practically leveling the town of Homestead, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless and causing billions of dollars in damage.
Praised for his response to that disaster, Paulison now brings hands-on experience and his training in fighting fires and emergency management to his new job as interim director of the nation's disaster response agency, post-Hurricane Katrina.
Paulison took over the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday, a day after President Bush named him to replace Mike Brown, who quit in the face of unrelenting criticism over the agency's sluggish response to Katrina after she battered Gulf Coast areas of three states Aug. 29.
Paulison pledged to focus on Katrina's victims.
''We've had a hurricane of unimaginable proportions, and we're going to deal with it,'' he said Tuesday, avoiding, for now, discussion of the apparent missteps of the last two weeks. ''We're going to get those people out of shelters and we're going to move and get them the help that they need.''
A 30-year firefighter with a background in emergency management who rose through the ranks to become fire chief in 1992, Paulison will remain head of the U.S. Fire Administration, the Emmitsburg, Md.-based fire prevention and safety agency he has led since December 2001. It is a division of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security.
Paulison, a longtime advocate of home-emergency kits, made a splash in 2003 when as director of FEMA's emergency preparedness unit he urged the public to stock supplies of duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal windows and doors in case of a terrorist attack. Home hardware stores in several areas ran out of duct tape as a result and manufacturers spurred production to meet the surge in demand.
Supporters say Paulison's background will make a difference for FEMA.
''You need someone who understands what the resource needs are on the ground, particularly in those first critical hours and days,'' said Harold Schaitberger, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters and a longtime Paulison acquaintance.
Miami Mayor Manny Diaz said the local search and rescue team ''is probably the envy of the world.'' He said representatives from other countries often visit to see how it works. Diaz credited Paulison, whom he described as a ''consummate professional'' and ''a go-to guy.''
''At times like this, you need a guy who's been on the ground floor,'' Diaz said.
Paulison, 58, began as a firefighter in 1971 with the North Miami Beach Fire Department, which was absorbed by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department. Besides his work on Hurricane Andrew, Paulison also led the department through the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades.
A certified paramedic, Paulison moved to Washington in late 2001. After FEMA became part of the Homeland Security Department in 2003, he led FEMA's emergency preparedness force until last year.
Paulison is married and has two adult daughters and a granddaughter.
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Associated Press writer Denise Kalette in Miami contributed to this report.
