Re: FEMA 6 - 'FEMA turns back volunteers'

Emergency crews turned back by FEMA:
They lacked "the required paperwork"

by Shannon Sollinger,
Loudoun [VA] Times-Mirror

Sept. 2, 2005 [Day 5]

Loudoun Sheriff's deputies and emergency personnel were on their way to hurricane- stricken Louisiana Thursday night but had to turn around when the federal government failed to come up with the required paperwork.

Sheriff Steve Simpson and his staff spent 12 hours trying to get the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State of Louisiana Emergency Operations Center to act. They didn't, and the 20 deputies and six emergency medical technicians -- all volunteers -- turned around and came back to Loudoun.

The deputies' experience brings to our doorsteps a glaring illustration of the chaos in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. But it does not dampen the deputies' willingness to assist: They may try again next week.

The deputies packed up to head south after a request from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Department. The department serves an area around New Orleans.

Deputies left Leesburg at 9 p.m. Thursday. They reached Harrisonburg at midnight and were told that neither FEMA nor the Louisiana was willing to act on the request from Jefferson Parish.

The deputies were to have been sworn in as local law enforcement officers and would have worked with teams in some of the most devastated areas. The relief team had gathered enough supplies to be self-sufficient for up to 14 days.

©Times Community Newspapers 2005
Tweet