Fire crews to hand out fliers for FEMA

[ironman]

You won't believe this about firefighters who have come to help.

Now, I know FEMA has reasons for this, but come on. Do you really need to pass a federal background check to hand out flyers?

Jebus.

[Iowa_Card]

Originally posted by pgrote@Sep 6 2005, 01:47 PM
You won't believe this about firefighters who have come to help.

Now, I know FEMA has reasons for this, but come on. Do you really need to pass a federal background check to hand out flyers?

Jebus.

Quoted post

Ridiculous.

[dredbyrd]

1-800-621-FEMA.

For when you get your phone back in weeks or months.

Have a nice day unless you had other plans.

[DaLode]

The Keystone Kops.

Man these guys couldn't coordinate a piss up in a brewery.

[Daisy Mae]

Originally posted by dredbyrd@Sep 6 2005, 02:46 PM
1-800-621-FEMA.

For when you get your phone back in weeks or months.

Have a nice day unless you had other plans.

Quoted post

WTF??? (And I don't use that term very often.) How exactly are people supposed to call FEMA if, as you pointed out, they don't have a phone.

The Red Cross has also set up a website for people to let their families know they are OK. That also gets a WTF because all of the people stranded down there have no electricity, even if they did happen to have a computer in the first place.

[Iowa_Card]

Originally posted by DaLode@Sep 6 2005, 02:49 PM
The Keystone Kops.

Man these guys couldn't coordinate a piss up in a brewery.

Quoted post

They'd forget the barley and hops.

But we's gots da sugah!

[Mr. Goalie]

ATLANTA - Not long after some 1,000 firefighters sat down for eight hours of training, the whispering began: "What are we doing here?"
As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta.
Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers.
Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.
On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.
Federal officials are unapologetic.
"I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak.
The firefighters - or at least the fire chiefs who assigned them to come to Atlanta - knew what the assignment would be, Hudak said.
"The initial call to action very specifically says we're looking for two-person fire teams to do community relations," she said. "So if there is a breakdown [in communication], it was likely in their own departments."
One fire chief from Texas agreed that the call was clear to work as community-relations officers. But he wonders why the 1,400 firefighters FEMA attracted to Atlanta aren't being put to better use. He also questioned why the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - of which FEMA is a part - has not responded better to the disaster.
The firefighters, several of whom are from Utah, were told to bring backpacks, sleeping bags, first-aid kits and Meals Ready to Eat. They were told to prepare for
"austere conditions." Many of them came with awkward fire gear and expected to wade in floodwaters, sift through rubble and save lives.
"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet."
The firefighter, who has encouraged his superiors back home not to send any more volunteers for now, declined to give his name because FEMA has warned them not to talk to reporters.
On Monday, two firefighters from South Jordan and two from Layton headed for San Antonio to help hurricane evacuees there. Four firefighters from Roy awaited their marching orders, crossing their fingers that they would get to do rescue and recovery work, rather than paperwork.
"A lot of people are bickering because there are rumors they'll just be handing out fliers," said Roy firefighter Logan Layne, adding that his squad hopes to be in the thick of the action. "But we'll do anything. We'll do whatever they need us to do."
While FEMA's community-relations job may be an important one - displaced hurricane victims need basic services and a variety of resources - it may be a job best suited for someone else, say firefighters assembled at the Sheraton.
"It's a misallocation of resources. Completely," said the Texas firefighter.
"It's just an under-utilization of very talented people," said South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote, who sent a team of firefighters to Atlanta. "I was hoping once they saw the level of people . . . they would shift gears a little bit."
Foote said his crews would be better used doing the jobs they are trained to do.
But Louis H. Botta, a coordinating officer for FEMA, said sending out firefighters on community relations makes sense. They already have had background checks and meet the qualifications to be sworn as a federal employee. They have medical training that will prove invaluable as they come across hurricane victims in the field.
A firefighter from California said he feels ill prepared to even carry out the job FEMA has assigned him. In the field, Hurricane Katrina victims will approach him with questions about everything from insurance claims to financial assistance.
"My only answer to them is, '1-800-621-FEMA,' " he said. "I'm not used to not being in the know."
Roy Fire Chief Jon Ritchie said his crews would be a "little frustrated" if they were assigned to hand out phone numbers at an evacuee center in Texas rather than find and treat victims of the disaster.
Also of concern to some of the firefighters is the cost borne by their municipalities in the wake of their absence. Cities are picking up the tab to fill the firefighters' vacancies while they work 30 days for the federal government.
"There are all of these guys with all of this training and we're sending them out to hand out a phone number," an Oregon firefighter said. "They [the hurricane victims] are screaming for help and this day [of FEMA training] was a waste."
Firefighters say they want to brave the heat, the debris-littered roads, the poisonous cottonmouth snakes and fire ants and travel into pockets of Louisiana where many people have yet to receive emergency aid.
But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.

source




Mr. G

[Razzy]

Goalie,

I think the rescue and grunt people have done more posing for photo ops with asshole politicians than actually rescuing people or saving lives.

[Ohio Blues]

It's hard work.

[MsFunkay]

get the politicians out of there unless they're gonna help clean up the mess personally

[kah]

Same way the Coast Guard helicopters were set up behind Bush and the pilots were standing at attention, rather than, you know, keeping busy saving people.

[Razzy]

As I sit here and watch this stuff, I keep asking myself why I stay in this country and dont go to Australia or Canada or somewhere...

Someone please tell me their government is fucked also

[hansolo]

Originally posted by Razzy@Sep 6 2005, 11:43 PM
As I sit here and watch this stuff, I keep asking myself why I stay in this country and dont go to Australia or Canada or somewhere...

Someone please tell me their government is fucked also

Quoted post

what's stopping you?

its not that easy to move to australia or canada unless you have unique set of skills or married to a citizen from either country.

you have either?

[Rdog3933]

Originally posted by Razzy@Sep 6 2005, 10:43 PM
As I sit here and watch this stuff, I keep asking myself why I stay in this country and dont go to Australia or Canada or somewhere...

Someone please tell me their government is fucked also

Quoted post

Dude, I've been saying that since the Carter Administration... :o

[Razzy]

Originally posted by hansolo+Sep 6 2005, 10:57 PM-->

QUOTE(hansolo @ Sep 6 2005, 10:57 PM)