CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- The state's deputy fire marshal is unhappy about the way New Hampshire firefighters were recruited to help out in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Rob Farley says the Federal Emergency Management Agency sought help directly from individual fire departments instead of requesting help at the state level.
''I won't say it was wrong for FEMA to do that,'' Farley said. ''It just made it harder for us to be able to coordinate and monitor the resources going out of the state.''
He also said firefighters who were sent are being used mostly for clerical work, diminishing the state's ability to deploy teams for actual firefighting.
Meanwhile, the state Office of Emergency Management says as many as 40 families from the Gulf Coast have been stranded in New Hampshire by Katrina.
The Red Cross is trying to get a tally of the people stranded here. The group's Manchester chapter alone is helping about 20 families. The state also believes their are clusters of families in Nashua and western parts of the state.
Many of the families were visiting relatives and now have nowhere to go. Emergency Management spokesman James Van Dongen said the state is putting together a guide to help the families find services for them.
Businesses, schools and clubs around the state continued raising money and supplies for hurricane relief.
The Barley House restaurant in Concord scheduled a benefit auction for Thursday night and said it will donate all proceeds from food sales and $1 for every beer sold that night to the Red Cross. Food servers said they would donate their wages that night.
The Union Leader Corp. set up a relief fund and asked contributing businesses to pledge 5 percent of one month's gross profits earned in New Hampshire.
The businesses will be recognized in free advertisements that will run for a month in the New Hampshire Union Leader, New Hampshire Sunday News and on UnionLeader.com.
The paper said participation will not be limited to advertisers.
Money raised will go to the Red Cross, Salvation Army and New Hampshire National Guard - and to Gulf Coast evacuees if any are brought to the state.
Information from: New Hampshire Union Leader
