September 06, 2005
Emergency Response
It's becoming increasingly clear that Emergency Response is simply a matter of public relations.
Of course, government is cheap if all it does is tell lies.
Which picture is fake? Both.
Frustrated: Fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA
By Lisa Rosetta
The Salt Lake Tribune
Firefighters endure a day of FEMA training, which included a course on
sexual harassment. Some firefighters say their skills are being wasted.
(Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune)
ATLANTA - Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight
hours of training, the whispering began: "What are we doing here?"
As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for
firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for
a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in
a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta.
Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the
United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they
were going to be deployed as emergency workers.
Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations
officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to
disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.
On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the
Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in
backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.
Federal officials are unapologetic.
"I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment
to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA
spokeswoman Mary Hudak.
The firefighters - or at least the fire chiefs who assigned them to
come to Atlanta - knew what the assignment would be, Hudak said.
"The initial call to action very specifically says we're looking for
two-person fire teams to do community relations," she said. "So if there
is a breakdown [in communication], it was likely in their own
departments."
One fire chief from Texas agreed that the call was clear to work as
community-relations officers. But he wonders why the 1,400 firefighters
FEMA attracted to Atlanta aren't being put to better use. He also
questioned why the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - of which FEMA
is a part - has not responded better to the disaster.
The firefighters, several of whom are from Utah, were told to bring
backpacks, sleeping bags, first-aid kits and Meals Ready to Eat. They
were told to prepare for "austere conditions." Many of them came with
awkward fire gear and expected to wade in floodwaters, sift through
rubble and save lives.
"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified,
paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting
in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims]
in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet."
The firefighter, who has encouraged his superiors back home not to
send any more volunteers for now, declined to give his name because FEMA
has warned them not to talk to reporters.
On Monday, two firefighters from South Jordan and two from Layton
headed for San Antonio to help hurricane evacuees there. Four
firefighters from Roy awaited their marching orders, crossing their
fingers that they would get to do rescue and recovery work, rather than
paperwork.
"A lot of people are bickering because there are rumors they'll just
be handing out fliers," said Roy firefighter Logan Layne, adding that
his squad hopes to be in the thick of the action. "But we'll do
anything. We'll do whatever they need us to do."
While FEMA's community-relations job may be an important one -
displaced hurricane victims need basic services and a variety of
resources - it may be a job best suited for someone else, say
firefighters assembled at the Sheraton.
"It's a misallocation of resources. Completely," said the Texas
firefighter.
"It's just an under-utilization of very talented people," said South
Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote, who sent a team of firefighters to
Atlanta. "I was hoping once they saw the level of people . . . they
would shift gears a little bit."
Foote said his crews would be better used doing the jobs they are
trained to do.
But Louis H. Botta, a coordinating officer for FEMA, said sending
out firefighters on community relations makes sense. They already have
had background checks and meet the qualifications to be sworn as a
federal employee. They have medical training that will prove invaluable
as they come across hurricane victims in the field.
A firefighter from California said he feels ill prepared to even
carry out the job FEMA has assigned him. In the field, Hurricane Katrina
victims will approach him with questions about everything from insurance
claims to financial assistance.
"My only answer to them is, '1-800-621-FEMA,' " he said. "I'm not
used to not being in the know."
Roy Fire Chief Jon Ritchie said his crews would be a "little
frustrated" if they were assigned to hand out phone numbers at an
evacuee center in Texas rather than find and treat victims of the
disaster.
Also of concern to some of the firefighters is the cost borne by
their municipalities in the wake of their absence. Cities are picking up
the tab to fill the firefighters' vacancies while they work 30 days for
the federal government.
"There are all of these guys with all of this training and we're
sending them out to hand out a phone number," an Oregon firefighter
said. "They [the hurricane victims] are screaming for help and this day
[of FEMA training] was a waste."
Firefighters say they want to brave the heat, the debris-littered
roads, the poisonous cottonmouth snakes and fire ants and travel into
pockets of Louisiana where many people have yet to receive emergency
aid.
But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in
Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight
headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside
President Bush as he tours devastated areas.
lrosetta@sltrib.com
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Addendum--personal report from Baton Rouge on september 3rd
Hi Classmates, I just got an update from Bev (Carole's sister). Carol is at her son's house in Baton Rouge. Her son has a tree business and was able to get all his trucks and business stuff out of the New Orleans area and his business stuff out of Carole's house before the hurricane hit. He took Carole's new refrigerator too. He told Carol to grab some clothes and valuables but she only took her suitcase of clothes she had from the reunion. Kenner, the town where Carole lives, has pumps and they must of had generators because they were pumping as soon as the levy gave out and Kenner (or her side of Kenner) is not too bad off. Officials are going to let her go home Monday to see her house, but she has to leave right away. She and her son and her ex-husband and a few others are living in her sons house. He has a generator servicing the garage so they are in the garage to cook and watch a little TV. The hot water tank is out so they take cold showers. They have to boil their water. Most of the cell phones do not work because the towers are gone. Right now, I'm trying to do things other than watch the horror down South. I almost broke the TV when the head of FEMA, in an interview on Thursday, said they had massive help organized, and that they hadn't sent any to the convention center in New Orleans, because they just found out about it that day - what planet is he on??? An outrage!!! More later. Kaye