BY MARK J. COTTER
Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Monday, August 29, with a roundhouse punch that still has the entire country reeling. Watching the victims on television, many in the fire service felt compelled to respond but were restrained by the reasonable request by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that agencies not self-dispatch and to await instead to be activated as part of the organized relief and recovery efforts. Indeed, Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) and Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) members, as well as National Guard troops, were deployed early. Unfortunately, the storm’s devastation was so extensive that many of the victims were pleading for help even days after the winds and rain had passed.
William “Bill” Gordy, volunteer deputy chief for the Salisbury (MD) Fire Department (SFD), was one of those fire service leaders holding his troops in abeyance as the promised federal response languished in red tape and bureaucratic inertia day after day. He was in contact with business associates in the Gulf States. The stories they told of basic needs going unmet was finally too much for him to bear.
Initially, he had planned to drive down in his personal vehicle with his firefighter son, Jeremy, to bring needed supplies and equipment to friends in the beleaguered area. Soon, however, word of his plans made it to other firefighters, and many approached him about assisting. Eventually, news of the planned mission reached the mayor of Salisbury, Barrie Parsons Tilghman. She had heard a televised plea for help from the mayor of Slidell, Louisiana, a town just north of New Orleans similar in size to Salisbury, and gave the team her official blessing.
The SFD, a combination service with 123 members, 59 of them career employees, is headed by Chief David See. Gordy, the deputy chief of volunteers, is third in command. He had at his disposal an array of personnel, equipment, and supplies.
Nine members were assembled; others were turned away because of logistical limitations. In addition to Gordy and his son were Captains John “Dru” Bragg and James Gladwell, Lieutenants David Insley and William Nutter Jr., and Firefighters Jay Jester, Joseph “Pat” Andrews, and Howard Jackson. Four of these team members are volunteer members of the SFD, three are EMT-paramedics, and four are members of the Special Operations team. They were accompanied by a reporter from a local television station, who provided daily news reports and sometimes even video. The team was referred to as the “Salisbury Nine.”
READYING EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
Two SFD vehicles, a crew-cab pickup truck and a Chevy Suburban, were chosen to ferry the crew and equipment to the affected region. The group also took along a pickup truck that belonged to Gordy’s business. The Special Operations Team’s enclosed 16-foot trailer was stocked with, among other things, personal gear, a flat-bottomed boat, an outboard motor, water, chainsaws, a generator, a compressor, and a virtual armory of hand tools. A trip to the local Lowe’s store with an urgent shopping list elicited the ready assistance of the management, which donated the entire $1,700 in merchandise requested. More cases of drinking water were purchased from a Wal-Mart en route.
The process of assembling the team and equipment was completed in less than 24 hours. The team departed Salisbury on Friday, September 2, at 1400 hours for an estimated 24-hour, 1,200-mile drive.
While still en route, the team attempted to maintain contact with persons in the affected areas by cell phones, the operation of which was intermittent and patchy. When they did get through, they received multiple requests to check on relatives, friends, and associates. One contact reported his family was in the coastal town of Long Beach, Mississippi, just west of Gulfport, that they had not been heard from since before the storm hit, and that persons who had gone to check on them had themselves not been heard from since. As their route of travel passed by that community, they diverted to that location to at least assess the situation.
LONG BEACH, MISSISSIPPI
The SFD team arrived Saturday at about noon to find the road to the area barricaded by Mississippi State Police. They were allowing no one into the neighborhood, located several miles farther down a two-lane road, and preventing the return of any residents who ventured out. After much discussion, the team succeeded in persuading the police to at least allow one of the team’s vehicles to pass for a reconnaissance mission. What was found was sufficient in itself to justify the team’s long drive.
Long Beach is a waterfront community with about 17,000 year-round residents. Although much of the neighborhoods they saw had not been flooded, all of the homes were extensively damaged. Imbedded tree limbs and shredded roofs were the most common types of damage visible. The most severely affected homes were reduced to mere rubble piles. The area had been searched by a US&R team, which was then redeployed elsewhere. No agencies had since arrived to assist. Many homes had emergency generators that had been out of fuel for some time. People were walking to the roadblock for gasoline, food, or just information. Most turned back when told they would not be allowed reentry. The storm’s soaking, combined with temperatures in the 90s, brought forth a smell team members describe as “living in a sewer.”
 Search areas consisted of extensive debris fields, with an occasional roof or vehicle protruding. (Photo by Jason Newton, published with permission of WBOC-TV.) |
Salisbury’s team had no trouble locating the persons for whom they had diverted. Members reported these people’s conditions and locations to worried relatives and then went about the tasks at hand. They cut and cleared trees, tarped roofs, and shared whatever supplies were available. They offered gasoline from their own supply so that some undamaged vehicles could be mobilized and generators restarted. The most common question asked of the SFD team was, “Where is FEMA?” While they were there, a sheriff’s pickup truck from Florida and a pickup truck from a volunteer fire department in northern Louisiana arrived with water and ice. The Salisbury Nine remained in Long Beach for only a few hours and then moved on to their intended destination.
SLIDELL, LOUISIANA
In Slidell, with a population of almost 30,000 in the city proper, and about three times that in the immediately surrounding community, local personnel had been searching damaged homes for five days, without relief. Located on the northern bank of Lake Pontchartrain, across a causeway from the flooded city of New Orleans, Slidell had been severely damaged by winds and floods, but the waters had receded. The devastation was intense, though, and much work remained to be done.
 Completing a secondary search of a house in Slidell. [Photo by Lt. Billy Nutter Jr., Salisbury (MD) Fire Department.] |
Several teams of firefighters, one from as far as Oklahoma, had arrived to provide assistance, but none brought the necessary equipment or logistical support for a protracted operation. Even five days after the storm had passed, whole neighborhoods had not been checked for victims or survivors. The SFD team members were put in touch with the fire chief and were given a mission. They operated as part of the chain of command of the sheriff of Tammany Parish.
Not intending to become a burden on an already stressed area, the team had made its own arrangements for food and shelter. A Louisiana business associate of Gordy offered his home for the team’s use. Located in Hammond, Louisiana, some 50 miles from Slidell, it, too, was initially without electricity but had come through the storm relatively unscathed. The three bedrooms and an RV provided soft beds, and an in-ground pool gave thankful relief from the stifling heat. Arriving there at about 1900 hours on September 3, it was the first time the SFD team laid down their heads in more than 30 hours. Other teams that did not make such arrangements before responding were not so fortunate. Some slept outdoors, unsheltered, at highway rest stops. The combination of high heat and humidity, stifling odors, and voracious mosquitoes decimated the teams even before they could get to work in earnest.
On their return to Slidell on Sunday morning, September 4, Salisbury’s members were separated into two teams to begin a house-to-house search of 350 beachfront and bayou homes. Along with three other teams, they completed this task by noon on Tuesday, September 6. They rescued two pets but, thankfully, found no victims. FEMA teams, including the Madison and Tuscaloosa (AL) Fire Departments, arrived soon after Salisbury and brought heavy rescue trucks. The SFD team’s choice of pickup trucks had unexpected benefits: Larger vehicles were unable to navigate many of the debris-strewn smaller roadways, so equipment and crews were loaded into the pickups for transport to the work areas.
The team soon fell into a routine: arising at 0600 hours, leaving by 0700 hours, arriving on-site in Slidell by 0800 hours, and working until about 1800 hours. The hospitality provided by the residents was more overwhelming than the damage done by the storm. A homeowner in the midst of the damaged development had a relatively secure, brick home, with a running generator. This home was designated “The Ranch.” The SFD team assembled on its porch, under the ceiling fan, to eat lunch. In the yard, between the patio and the next house, sat a 30-foot sailboat, beached since the week before. Repeatedly, victims, who had lost virtually all of their possessions, offered team members water and food. Many friendships were begun that will survive long after the region has recovered.
After clearing their assigned residential neighborhoods, the Salisbury Nine was teamed with other crews as a task force, led by Gordy, and given the mission of searching along a roadway that had been a business and commercial corridor prior to the storm. What Katrina left was piles of rubble, landlocked boats, and mud. Later in the week, team members were assigned to provide RIT services while the structurally unstable homes, which could not be safely entered by searchers earlier, were finally searched and cleared. On its last day, the team, assisted by dog search teams, made another sweep through previously searched areas. With the aid of the canines, they located the bodies of two victims buried deep beneath rubble and mud.
Each day brought unique challenges and experiences. Although they did not encounter looters, they did see several alligators. The team collected cans of pet food from homes to feed the abandoned dogs and cats they regularly encountered. Slipping down muddied stairs was a frequent mishap but, fortunately, there were no serious injuries. One of the dog handlers walked across what seemed to be a dirt-covered lawn and sunk in up to her armpits. She and the dog had to be pulled free.
TEAM PREPARES TO LEAVE
On Friday, September 9, a full week after departing Salisbury, the team arose again at 0600 hours, but it took the day to clean equipment and clothing. Operating in what was essentially a haz mat scene covering hundreds of square miles, they did their best to prevent contaminating their families and hometown. The team departed on Saturday morning, September 10. Excess supplies were left with a Maryland National Guard group deployed in Mississippi. One of its officers, Captain John David Black, is also the volunteer first assistant chief of SFD’s Station 16. The mileage covered in a 24-hour rush to respond the week before took a little longer on the return trip, as the team made an overnight stop.
LESSONS LEARNED AND REINFORCED
In addition to the good work accomplished and the satisfaction its members received, the team learned lessons that were well worth the effort expended. Salisbury sits in the center of the Delmarva Peninsula, shared with the state of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, between the Chesapeake Bay to the West and the Atlantic Ocean to the East. Hurricanes and flooding are real threats to Salisbury, sitting as it does just a few feet above sea level, and to its surrounding neighbors. The experience gained from the Gulf mission will be put to good use in preparing for future missions, both at home and away.
Other lessons, some of them obvious to anyone who watched the Katrina tragedy unfold through media reports, are equally important. ”The fire service missed a great opportunity here,” says Gordy. “It was through the efforts of these unofficial teams from small towns that these people received timely help.” Responding in the aftermath of natural disasters was a tradition of coastal fire departments, and Salisbury and its neighbors had traveled to North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to assist in the immediate rescue efforts in the past. “Unfortunately, the fire service bought into the DHS’s request to ‘stand down,’ and the delay that caused was tragic.” With the federal response now in full swing and expected to last for years to come, the lessons of those critical first days must not be forgotten.
Future disasters of this scope, which dwarf the capabilities of the organized federal resources (US&R, DMAT, National Guard), can come in the form of hurricanes, snowstorms, earthquakes, or war. They can occur tomorrow. There needs to be a mechanism for the rapid deployment of trained, equipped, agile, and capable teams that can quickly move into multiple areas and perform rescues and reconnaissance and begin relief efforts. The Salisbury Fire Department will be more prepared for the next disaster because the current system has proven it is not.
MARK J. COTTER joined the fire service more than 30 years ago and is currently a volunteer firefighter/EMT-B with the Salisbury (MD) Fire Department. Previously, he served as an EMT-paramedic, an emergency services consultant, and fire chief with departments in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He is the author of the column “From the Jumpseat” on the Fire Engineering Web site.
