Craig Haydel had only been out of the New Orleans fire academy for two months when he reported to duty at Engine 12 while crews braced for Hurricane Katrina's arrival.
After the crew checked on residents in the Lakefront neighborhood, which was bordered by Lake Ponchatrain to the north, they crew returned to the station and began packing up their necessities to move take to the area of last refuge.
“Most of my family was gone, out of the city, and my mind was at ease,” Haydel said. “I’m at work, I’m with the fire department, so I’m fairly safe.”
They rode out the fierce winds and rain, but at first light they began to get a picture of damage that hit the Crescent City, including the flooding from the broken levees.
“We were like sitting ducks. You couldn’t go anywhere, you couldn’t do anything,” he said when crews spotted a house fire in the Lower Ninth Ward, which was already under water.
Haydel’s crews walked about four blocks through two feet of water and that's when they realized how bad it really was.
“Once you crossed over the bridge, it was like 'Wow, this bridge is a boat launch now.’”
“It was like surreal," Haydel recalled. "By this time it’s sunny out and it’s beautiful day."
“At that point, it was one minute at a time, one hour at a time.”
Firefighters began using boats to rescue people in the Lower Ninth Ward, the neighborhood that was completely submerged.
They found people swimming in water that was anywhere from three to five feet deep. Some climbed to safety on the second floor or roof their homes.
They continued loading residents into the boat and bringing them to the interstate bridge.
"When I jumped off the boat, the water was five feet deep, in some areas it was eight feet deep. When we got inside, there were dozens of people there."
They started evacuating residents and helping them down to the boats. Many did not want to leave, despite the firefighters' efforts to explain the severity of the situation.
“We were begging and pleading with these people, but I don’t think they knew what was going on outside. They wouldn’t be able to survive here.”
After loading up the available boats, at least 20 people still refused to leave. He had no choice but to take them to safety.
Later in the evening, Haydel estimates 20 boats were outside, but residents still refused to leave.
“It hurt my heart because we actually left because nobody else wanted to go.”
