SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association announced this week that the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team has been deployed to California to offer comfort to those affected by the wildfires that have consumed over 485,000 acres and driven countless residents from their homes.

|PIC1|The team is comprised of chaplains who are specially trained to provide spiritual and emotional assistance in times of crisis.

Over the past week, the chaplains have listened to and prayed with over 110 evacuees at Qualcomm Stadium and in shelters across the Southern California region.

The BGEA said the deployment would increase in the coming days with the number of chaplains on the ground in California doubling over the weekend, and nearly quadrupling by early next week. It is anticipated that the deployment will last a minimum of four to six weeks.

In the coming days, the Rapid Response Team chaplains will continue to work in shelters, as well as accompany residents as they return to their neighbourhoods and see for the first time what is left of their houses.

"The people of these communities are facing a major tragedy in their lives," says Jack Munday, director of the Rapid Response Team. "For many of them, their homes are gone. Their keepsakes and photographs are burned. We will be there to be a listening ear and a comforting presence."

Another major focus for the Rapid Response Team in the near future will be working alongside Samaritan's Purse, the disaster relief organisation also headed by Franklin Graham.

As Samaritan's Purse volunteers help to overcome the physical needs of homeowners by clearing lots and cleaning houses, the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team will seek to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of the homeowners.

The Billy Graham Rapid Response Team was conceived in the days following September 11, 2001. Since that time, the Rapid Response Team has developed into a network of 2,500 chaplains and ministry volunteers across the United States ready to respond anywhere in the country when man-made or natural disasters strike.

Dating back to its inception, the Rapid Response Team has been deployed 18 times, with nine of those deployments taking place in 2007.

Most notably, the Rapid Response Team was deployed to Blacksburg, Virginia, following the shooting on the campus of Virginia Tech, and Minneapolis following the collapse of the I-35 bridge, as well as Crandon, Wisconsin, following the shooting of several young people there earlier this month.

For more information on the Rapid Response Team please visit www.billygraham.org/rapidresponse