Editorial: You Had To See It To Believe It

I just returned from a week-long trip to interview firefighters and see the damage left behind by Hurricane Katrina four months earlier. New Orleans, Gulfport, Biloxi, Pass Christian, Waveland and many other cities and towns bear the scars that will take many years to heal. As soon as I left the airport, the first thing I noticed was that every other house has a blue tarp covering a damaged roof.

I have been able to visit many fire scenes over the years. From the remains of the K-Mart warehouse in Falls Township, PA (the building measured 1,250 feet long by 1,000 feet wide; the fire took seven days to extinguish, causing $113 million in damage). I was inside the Happy Land Social Club in the Bronx, where the fire area measured 50 feet deep and 20 feet wide. That fire killed 89 people. Two days after the propane explosion that killed five firefighters in Buffalo in 1985, I traveled to the scene. Twenty-plus buildings were damaged or destroyed by the blast. I flew over Malibu and San Diego County after their devastating wildfires in which several hundred thousand acres burned.

The Gulf Coast region sustained damage over thousands of square miles. The size and scope of the damage is something on a scale I have never seen before. Damage from fires is expected to the fire building and maybe some exposures, but this is an entirely new category of devastation. Buildings were wiped out from the hurricane-force winds or the 20-foot-plus-high storm surge. New Orleans sustained wind damage, downed trees and power lines and some flooding from the rain. When the levees broke in several areas of New Orleans, the city - which is located mostly below sea level - was like a bowl, and many areas remained flooded for nearly three weeks. As Gulfport, MS, Fire Chief Pat Sullivan said, it make take 10 or 15 years for his area to get back to the way it was pre-Katrina. Sullivan is worried about his firefighters and the ability of their city to be able to keep its fire force intact because of the lack of a tax base. (See interviews beginning on page 48.)

In the aftermath of the damage and destruction to life and property, the firefighters who remained at their posts throughout the region suffered mental, physical and property loss as well. In one fire company I talked with in New Orleans, of the eight firefighters and officers working, seven had their homes damaged. That is the same almost all over the city. One officer said 15 out-of-town firefighters came to his house on their off time and in just six hours his house was gutted and debris removed in a job that would have taken much longer. Firefighters from out of town who worked together for a few days said afterward that it was like they worked together for years. The same camaraderie existed. The New Orleans fire officer said, "The FDNY guys picked me up when I needed it."

People are slow to return to New Orleans and other areas. Job offers including higher wages and signs describing signing bonuses are on almost every restaurant and fast-food establishment in the area. Power has not yet been restored and debris is piled everywhere. Of 33 fire stations in New Orleans, four need to be rebuilt. Four other stations need major renovations. Several fire stations need roofs and many crews will live in trailers outside while work is undertaken. Plans to close fire stations because of city budget troubles were tabled. Fires still are occurring in the city. Four erupted in the 9th Ward just the other day. Possibly up to 10 fire companies a day may be closed in the future on a rotating basis to keep the department in business.

Unlike a fire that burns up and the building burns down, this storm's effects will be felt for years. Chief Sullivan has had several firefighters resign and move away. In one case, a firefighter with 24 years of service, needing just one more year to retire, left the department. He feels there should be a database or website to list firefighters who are veterans and have plenty to offer another fire department as they finish out their careers. I showed several groups of firefighters the pictures I had taken of the damage and the devastation in the Gulf area. They all had the same reaction: Wow! It was hard for them to comprehend. You had to be there to see it.