We went down there as they were winding down from Hurricane Katrina, and the day we got there, they were gearing right back up for Rita. That place was really hopping.

Our main concern is not to punish anybody, but to make sure people are safe.

Learn from the mistakes of others-you can never live long enough to make them all yourself.

We're waiting to see if we get a call. We don't see any specific threats locally, but we're ready to help in other areas if we're needed.

We'll protect our own citizens first; but, if we can offer help anywhere else, we're ready to do it. There's always the possibility for severe weather when a storm that big gets that close to us, but we know for a fact that it's going to cause damage down in Texas.

As long as there are strong communications, the command doesn't have to be on-site. What's done here by the decision-makers can be relayed to units out in the field.

I have no way of telling if they're sober or alcoholics. I don't discriminate against anybody.

Honestly, we've way outgrown that facility. It worked when we needed it, but we can do so much more with the bigger space.

We were looking at 2,500 square feet in a basic metal building there, and this is 10,000 square feet in a building that was designed as a hardened structure. There's no way a tornado could ever take this place out because of the design and location.