Frustrated: Fire crews to hand out fliers
for FEMA
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Lisa Rosetta
09/06/2005
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
|