Even before 9/11, emergency response officials were asking such questions as: Who among state and federal resources will respond to a large-scale disaster? How long will it take them to arrive on the scene?
Despite all that talk, planning and exercises, the local assets will always be the people on the scene doing what they can do. Confine, control and extinguish a fire, evacuate and treat injured people and handle whatever else they can. If the entire FDNY had been sitting outside the World Trade Center on 9/11, there probably would be the same outcome; the towers still would have fallen. If the 1,500 engines that eventually responded to the wildland fires in San Diego in 2003 had been on the scene when the fire started, the fire would probably have burned the same vast area (the fire was burning a football field-size area every second). If all 758 members of the New Orleans Fire Department had been on duty, the outcome would have been the same, Hurricane Katrina caused significant damage and the levees broke, flooding the city.
In New Orleans, many brave members of the police and fire departments went to work before help arrived. When state, federal and military resources were requested, it took time for them to arrive on the scene. Many citizens of New Orleans did not evacuate for a variety of reasons.
I was in New Orleans for four days and left on schedule on the Friday before the hurricane hit on Monday. Cygnus Business Media, our parent company, bought EMS Magazine and its staff was hosting a conference in the Convention Center that ended on Saturday, two days before the storm hit. New Orleans District Fire Chief Chris Mickal took me on a tour of the entire city for three days. I saw Lake Pontchartrain, the large city pumping stations that pump flood waters to the lake and numerous fire stations. Water from the lake flooded Chris' house, two blocks from where a levee broke. I had been in his house six days earlier. When that levee broke, one of Chris' firefighters called on a cell phone and told Chris that he was trapped in an attic after the water flooded the entire area and was as high as the home's roof in 15 minutes.
Even though more than 70% of them might have lost their houses, New Orleans firefighters went to work to rescue stranded civilians. Others operated at fires. Firefighters operated under extreme personal risk. Many were threatened by people looking to borrow any type of vehicle to leave the city. The firefighters worked non-stop, with little sleep and little or nothing to eat, while having to wade through waist-high water in search of trapped civilians. Aided by the National Guard, other military units, and numerous law enforcement, state and federal government agencies, civilians who wouldn't or couldn't leave and were trapped were rescued, day in and day out. Whatever events transpired that caused problems should be examined and plans should be re-evaluated. Contributing Editor Billy Goldfeder this month discusses the potential need for nationwide mutual aid in his Close Calls column on page 28.
In the aftermath of this truly once-in-a-lifetime tragedy, it will take years to recover. While others help take care of equipment and fire stations, we at Firehouse are working to take care of the first responders and their families, many of whom lost everything. We are determined to raise money, determine need and grant funds to needy first responders. A nationwide "put help in the helmet" drive that was being planned as I was writing may already be underway when you read this. Please check the website www.firstrespondersrelief.com. We need every department in the country to assist. Many have raised funds already. As this nationwide mutual aid is developed, we need to work at fund-raising first. We can be ready the next time an event of this magnitude occurs to help our brothers and sisters.
As Chris Mickal was told by an FDNY firefighter working in New Orleans, "As bad as the Trade Center was, if we lost loved ones or members of our company, we could still go home and see our families." The firefighters in New Orleans have nowhere to go and no one to be with.
