● Michgan-based HELPING OUR OWN (HOO) partnered with the SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY (CA) FIRE DEPARTMENT (SBCFD) to deliver more than 25 tons of firefighting equipment valued at $1.5 million (used value) to the region. The SBCFD had earmarked equipment for HOO’s Katrina relief mission and had dispatched two trucks loaded with equipment to HOO’s headquarters in Michigan Center, Michigan.
SBCFD members joined HOO in making a delivery to the Firefighter Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Holden, Louisiana. The firefighters received permission from their SBCFD superiors to return to HOO to make one more delivery to the region, which benefited four counties in Mississippi.
HOO personnel have been on the ground working with EOC administrators throughout the Gulf region to assess the needs of fire departments and other first responder organizations. Initially, HOO has committed to delivering more than $5 million (used value) of critically needed firefighting equipment and apparatus as requested for immediate use.
More than 200 U.S. fire departments have offered HOO used equipment for its Katrina relief mission; more than 20 departments have apparatus for HOO to pick up, test, repair, and deliver.
HOO is a nonprofit organization that provides salvaged and refurbished firefighting equipment and apparatus free of charge to underfunded volunteer fire departments and other first responders throughout the United States. It also provides equipment and apparatus in response to natural and man-made disasters.
For more information, contact HOO at (517) 764-0641, or (877) 4-HOO-HELP ((877) 446-6435). Web site: www.helpingourown.org.
● ROSENBAUER AMERICA’s Team Rosenbauer Rescue returned safely from its nine-day operation in areas stricken by Hurricane Katrina. On August 29, Eric Saulsbury, a New York state Rosenbauer distributor, requested, and the firm approved, funding of $10,000 to support a team providing apparatus, equipment, and repair support to fire and police departments in the Gulf Coast area. Saulsbury and his team had previously assisted in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
After receiving credentials and clearance from supporting Louisiana agencies, Team Rosenbauer Rescue deployed a new apparatus staffed with six firefighter volunteers from Aurelius, Scipio, and Cortlandville fire departments in New York and coordinator Saulsbury, and carried sufficient food and equipment to support a minimum 10-day operation.
The team was paired with the Denham Springs (LA) Fire Department. En route to Louisiana, the team’s role changed; it was to provide equipment for direct search and rescue operations because of the lack of boats and staffing in the affected areas.
On the first day of operations, the Rosenbauer group was split into two teams; one was deployed with a Denham Springs group to the Chalmette/St. Bernard area. It operated with the Louisiana Fish and Wildlife Division for boat-supported rescue operations where a significant storm surge had submerged a vast majority of the parish.
The second team deployed with another Denham Springs group to the devastated Slidell area to assist the Slidell (LA) Fire Department, operating out of a single station; its other eight firehouses were untenable. In the face of danger (sometimes from the citizens protecting their property), teams searched house to house for survivors in a maze of complete devastation.
For the last seven days of the team’s operations, it was coordinated and deployed through the New Orleans Police Department command center at Harrah’s Casino in downtown New Orleans. The Rosenbauer teams and the Denham Springs Fire Department members rescued more than 60 victims from their flooded homes, mostly in the Ninth Ward of the city. Many of these were elderly or handicapped victims requiring airlifts using U.S. Coast Guard or U.S. Marine Corps Blackhawk helicopters.
The Bonaventure Company (the Louisiana Rosenbauer distributor) and the Denham Springs fire and police departments housed and coordinated the Rosenbauer team during its operations.
● TASK FORCE TIPS donated $30,000 to the American Red Cross’s Disaster Relief Fund to match the response of area residents, TFT dealers, and employees. The matching challenge was initiated in response to employees’ desire to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Within 12 working days, TFT associates and friends surpassed the $30,000 goal.
● The RED CROSS is using geographic information system (GIS) technology from ESRI for relief efforts following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Computer mapping, spatial analysis, and GIS Web services have assisted the agency in providing communities and displaced people with food, clothing, shelter, and other essential services. GIS technology has helped support senior-level staff at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., as well as staff operating at local forward command centers involved in setting up shelters, hotel housing, emotional support programs, and providing meals.
With GIS technology, the Red Cross was able to better plan prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and respond with greater flexibility and precision after the events occurred, according to Eric Maier, ESRI commercial account manager. ESRI resources helped generate maps and data on wind fields, damaged areas, populations, city infrastructure, streets, and more. ESRI provided on-site staff and resources from its Washington, D.C., office to quickly expand and extend the existing Red Cross GIS platform. In addition, ESRI specialists at the company’s Redlands, California, headquarters worked closely with Red Cross personnel to develop a Shelter Locator ArcWeb Services application that provides address, capacity, population, and other descriptors available to internal Red Cross staff as well as the public.
● THALES COMMUNICATIONS, INC. is working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to provide interoperable communication equipment for DHS’ Hurricane Katrina cleanup and reconstruction efforts. Thales has supplied DHS with its waterproof Thales 25 portable radios, which are the small-profile, light, and rugged Project 25-compliant portable digital devices available for homeland security, public safety, law enforcement, and land management application. Project 25 is the industry standard for interoperable government and public safety communications. The Thales 25 offers secure digital communications using Project 25 encryption standards to DHS personnel and interoperability links to local first responders on legacy analog mutual-aid channels.
