The serious wildfires have not been going on “all week,” as you say. Yesterday was the first bad day. The truth is that Perry cannot really add anything by being nearby, but he will be criticized if he is not around.
That’s the story of governors (and mayors). That’s why Christie and Bloomberg were so “on top of” Irene—they’d both been caught out of pocket during a bad snow storm back in late December.
The fires have been flaring for weeks, but yesterday was much worse. Yet because Perry’s running for president (right after being elected as guv) he’s at a ‘town hall’ in SC on Monday morning instead of back at his desk in Austin (or wherever in TX a fire disaster takes him).