NEW ORLEANS --
Four firehouses heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina open Monday morning and three more are scheduled to open later this month.
Actor-comedian Denis Leary plays a TV firefighter as the creator and co-star of the TV show Rescue Me. In 1999 he opened The Leary Firefighter Foundation after six firemen were killed in a warehouse in his hometown.
After Hurricane Katrina, 22 of 33 firehouses were damaged in New Orleans and The Leary Foundation committed to rebuilding 11. After this month, four more remain to be rebuilt.
Right after the storm, firefighters, business partners and community volunteers rebuilt seven other firehouses.
"When The Leary Foundation came on board in March, the first seven we done was the ones that was least damaged - ones we thought we could handle on -our own," District Chief Tim McConnell said. "When they came on board, we started tackling the big boys, the ones that were eight feet, six feet of water and, you know, really damaged."
McConnell said work is on pace to complete the rebuilding of all firehouses scheduled to be repaired by the end of next year.
