Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts

September-October, 2005 International Fire Fighter

There are stories of daring rescues, floodwaters rising in stations as fire fighters kept moving to higher ground, and airlifts to safety as stations came under siege by desperate armed thugs. 

There are stories of entire departments living and working out of high schools that escaped at least some flood damage; stories of members living in a factory with hundreds of citizens they rescued just above the rancid flood waters, with no connection to the outside world or access to basic necessities.

There are stories of command officers and chiefs committing despicable acts, including forcing members to fight a fire in 100-mile per hour winds as the storm approached, then making them cut the grass after the storm ravaged their city even though there was no gas in the city and the only power came from gas-fired generators.  

And there are stories of a chief who thought it was funny to take his kid fishing in the flood waters outside the station while his fire fighters rushed to perform rescues in boats just following the storm, and while his entire department had no access to food, water or decent shelter.

These stories were told to me on September 15, 2005 at a meeting of IAFF local leaders from the affected areas held in Mandeville, Louisiana, home of IAFF Local 3704. 

These leaders relayed tales of their work in the eye of the storm — from New Orleans, Jefferson and Saint Bernard Parish, Slidell, Mandeville, Kenner, Hammond, Biloxi, Gulfport and 40 other locals in areas that sustained hurricane damage. And virtually every member, told of performing their jobs without any communication or assistance from federal or state authorities. Some locals reported not hearing from any government entity outside of their city officials at all — more than two weeks after the storm.  

Through those harrowing stories and the early days of the storm, I’m proud to say that this IAFF established a command post in Baton Rouge and provided critical relief to our members in the earliest hours. To date, we have handed out $500 checks to over 1,500 members totaling just under $750,000. These checks put a few dollars in their pockets so they could buy the necessities for themselves and their families, as about 80 percent of the more than 6,000 members in the affected areas lost most or everything they had to Katrina’s wrath.

We have evacuated IAFF members and delivered medicine, food, water and clothing. We have deployed 48 member support missions to provide counseling resources. We have put into motion a housing needs and match database, working to provide members who lost their homes with temporary housing with other IAFF members and to assist members with housing repair.

We were privileged to have Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff visit our command center at my invitation. He listened to stories from our members and heard what our relief operation has been able to accomplish.

Going forward, as we told the Secretary, we will not politicize this, but we will tell their stories on Capitol Hill to make sure that the next time our country experiences a major disaster, it learns from the lessons of Katrina.

The IAFF web site ( www.iaff.org ) has been tracking the reports from the frontlines, which tell the tales of our members and their work. It also has extensive information on how members who need assistance can get it, and how members who want to help, can.

Most importantly, it enables IAFF members to contribute to the IAFF Disaster Relief Fund.  The money we are collecting will assist our members — from the initial checks we were able to hand out to providing them the ability to rebuild for the long term.

Imagine having built a life — all your possessions, your home, your family mementos, in some cases your pets — and seeing it completely destroyed or washed away in 24 hours by a massive storm. While we can consider our members lucky in that they are still alive, they will be starting their lives once again from scratch. Many have no homes, and their families are living far away in distant cities, staying with relatives, friends and other IAFF families. Just like we have not forgotten our brothers and their families from 9/11, we must not forget those suffering from the destruction of Katrina.

Help us keep helping our members affected by Katrina by assisting your local in raising money or by contributing directly to our IAFF Disaster Relief Fund. Visit www.iaff.org  and contribute today. This job won’t be done next week or even next month. And when the media changes its focus, and public attention turns to the next big story, we must still be there — for as long as it takes.

Stay safe. God bless.  

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