Not Real Happy With FEMA About This One

[GotZoom]

The Phoenix Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue team has been suspended by a federal agency because it brought armed police officers for protection on hurricane relief missions.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's conduct code prohibits urban search-and-rescue teams from having guns.

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon called the reaction from FEMA "stunning, unbelievable, bewildering and outrageous."

Phoenix's team included four police officers who were deputized as U.S. marshals when they participated in relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

The team was credited with plucking more than 400 Katrina survivors from rooftops and freeway overpasses in flooded sections of New Orleans.

Phoenix officials are threatening to refuse deployments in the future or possibly pull out of the federal agency altogether unless the rules are changed to allow teams to bring their own security, even if that means police with guns.

Phoenix police were added to the team about a year ago, and officials say they are essential to protecting firefighters and FEMA's $1.4 million worth of equipment.

Assistant Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan said his department also is questioning the federal agency's ability to manage working conditions, security and communications.

"We have an obligation to provide the safest environment as we can," Khan said.

U.S. Marshal David Gonzales said he was dismayed by the suspension because the setup with the police officers seemed ideal.

"We think this was a model," he said. "We think all rescue teams should have armed escorts wherever they go, and we think this is something they should adopt nationwide."

FEMA relies on 28 elite teams like the Phoenix group to perform specialized rescue operations immediately after terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

According to the mayor, FEMA officials advised the team to bring U.S. marshals along on the initial trip.

After Hurricane Katrina struck, firefighters faced deployment to areas plagued by looting and lawlessness. Twice, Phoenix's team was confronted by law enforcement officers who refused to let them pass through their communities and told them to "get out or get shot," Gordon said.

Officials told the Phoenix team on Sept. 26 that their help was no longer needed after members of the group were seen embarking on a helicopter flight with a loaded shotgun while helping with the aftermath of Rita.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/04/D8D1KDB80.html

 

[Johnney]

jsut bring your people in here with the robbers, thieves, looters, and rapist. no you cant bring security with you either. you jsut have to put your ass on the line.

whats wrong with people now days? seems we dont need a military, civil servants cant protect themselves...
why dont we just hire them, then kill them 30 seconds later?

 

[Hagbard Celine]

What the hell else were they supposed to do when those savages down there were shooting at rescue personnel?

 

[rcajun90]

What the hell else were they supposed to do when those savages down there were shooting at rescue personnel?

Hey I'm a taxpayer not a savage. FEMA did a lot stupid things down here like taking the fuel of the local police departments which stopped them from policing.
I'm not just talking about the NOLA police which professionalism of many of them
was without question lacking. I will never forget those NOPD officers looting with the looters. FEMA also seized the fuel of Jefferson Parish (Metairie) stopping a very good police department from doing their jobs. But hey our Governor is an idiot also. Perhaps she could become the director of FEMA?

 

[Johnney]

Hey I'm a taxpayer not a savage. FEMA did a lot stupid things down here like taking the fuel of the local police departments which stopped them from policing.
I'm not just talking about the NOLA police which professionalism of many of them
was without question lacking. I will never forget those NOPD officers looting with the looters. FEMA also seized the fuel of Jefferson Parish (Metairie) stopping a very good police department from doing their jobs. But hey our Governor is an idiot also. Perhaps she could become the director of FEMA?

im both!

 

[dilloduck]

FEMA is grossly understaffed, underfunded and misguided. It is not in their power nor job description to do much of what the public demands and expects. All they are now is a handy scapegoat and an acronym until somebody fixes it----and I mean REALLY fixes it.

 

[BaronVonBigmeat]

The best way to fix FEMA is to cut every single penny of it's funding, and cut taxes by that same amount so states can take up the slack if they want.

I think the only reason they exist is to buy votes. My friend is getting a check from FEMA to pay his insurance deductible, along with his wife's aunt. I've got the wacky idea that if you can't bear the full cost of owning a home, you shouldn't own one. Just like you don't buy a car if you can't afford the oil changes.

 

[rcajun90]

FEMA is grossly understaffed, underfunded and misguided. It is not in their power nor job description to do much of what the public demands and expects. All they are now is a handy scapegoat and an acronym until somebody fixes it----and I mean REALLY fixes it.

FEMA did a lot things wrong but it did do a few things right. Handing out 2,000 dollars to everyone was stupid. Their heart was in the right place but people are people. The people with the means of having a lap top computer or cell phones that actually worked got it. Those that didn't have those things and couldn't get into the system didn't. I know of a woman that her husband was in the national guard in Iraq. She spent a week living out of her car with her 9 year old daughter. When she arrived home she saw her house had been leveled by four big pine trees. She got nothing from FEMA. I know of a doctor with an industrial generator that never even left and had no damage and got the 2,000. He used it to buy a big screen TV. However FEMA is learning. My brother lives in Lake Charles and is still staying with us. When he called FEMA they wanted to know what type of house he lived in (trailer) and what was his annual income. No word on if he will get the money
but at least they are trying to find out who is truly in need.

FEMA did do a few things right. They setup centers where people that had returned could simply drive up and get mres, ice and water. They did this for about two weeks. They also were running around putting up the blue roofs on homes that had damage.

I hope the government investigates those that abused the system or at least they rot in hell because they prevented many of the needy from getting what they needed.

 

[dilloduck]

FEMA did a lot things wrong but it did do a few things right. Handing out 2,000 dollars to everyone was stupid. Their heart was in the right place but people are people. The people with the means of having a lap top computer or cell phones that actually worked got it. Those that didn't have those things and couldn't get into the system didn't. I know of a woman that her husband was in the national guard in Iraq. She spent a week living out of her car with her 9 year old daughter. When she arrived home she saw her house had been leveled by four big pine trees. She got nothing from FEMA. I know of a doctor with an industrial generator that never even left and had no damage and got the 2,000. He used it to buy a big screen TV. However FEMA is learning. My brother lives in Lake Charles and is still staying with us. When he called FEMA they wanted to know what type of house he lived in (trailer) and what was his annual income. No word on if he will get the money
but at least they are trying to find out who is truly in need.

FEMA did do a few things right. They setup centers where people that had returned could simply drive up and get mres, ice and water. They did this for about two weeks. They also were running around putting up the blue roofs on homes that had damage.

I hope the government investigates those that abused the system or at least they rot in hell because they prevented many of the needy from getting what they needed.

Handing out the 2 grand was only a stupid idea because they gave it to stupid people. It was quite a lifesaver for those who used it wisely. I think one has to examine the real mission of FEMA to determine exactly how good of a job they did. In a disaster of this magnitude and the failure of first responders to do squat, the chances of making mistakes was multiplied 10 fold. I doubt they ever even practiced a scenario when the first responders did nothing.
http://www.fema.gov/library/jma030602.shtm

 

[theHawk]

I just spoke to my dad last night. He is a civil servant that volunteered into a federal program that is borrowing civil servants from other agancies so they can go temporarily work for FEMA. He just finished his training in Orlando, and he is flying to N.O. tomorrow. He said its pretty much a day by day thing, almost like being in the military. The first day they described the work conditions and asked that if people can't handle it to leave. Conditions like living in tents instead of out of a hotel, as some poeple were lead to believe they would be staying at hotels. Otherwise they trained him on how to process applications for those that apply for help. He volunteered because they said they needed computer people, but they will probably use him for whatever they need at the time. He said he was impressed with the agency, they have done alot in the past because they are always there for every natural disaster we have, earthquakes...floods...hurricanes, its just that in this case the disaster is SO huge they are unable to handle it like they normally do. He said they are still hurting for people and they are still looking for volunteers (like 2000). Oddly he said that there were no DoD civilians in the class, and I haven't heard anything of this program were I work (DoD), and I'm trying to find out if us DoD civs can get into this program.

Judging from the above Phoenix police story and my dad's, it sounds to me like FEMA is full of clueless idiotic managers.....just like any other government agency :usa:

 

[dilloduck]

I just spoke to my dad last night. He is a civil servant that volunteered into a federal program that is borrowing civil servants from other agancies so they can go temporarily work for FEMA. He just finished his training in Orlando, and he is flying to N.O. tomorrow. He said its pretty much a day by day thing, almost like being in the military. The first day they described the work conditions and asked that if people can't handle it to leave. Conditions like living in tents instead of out of a hotel, as some poeple were lead to believe they would be staying at hotels. Otherwise they trained him on how to process applications for those that apply for help. He volunteered because they said they needed computer people, but they will probably use him for whatever they need at the time. He said he was impressed with the agency, they have done alot in the past because they are always there for every natural disaster we have, earthquakes...floods...hurricanes, its just that in this case the disaster is SO huge they are unable to handle it like they normally do. He said they are still hurting for people and they are still looking for volunteers (like 2000). Oddly he said that there were no DoD civilians in the class, and I haven't heard anything of this program were I work (DoD), and I'm trying to find out if us DoD civs can get into this program.

Judging from the above Phoenix police story and my dad's, it sounds to me like FEMA is full of clueless idiotic managers.....just like any other government agency :usa:

Which is EXACTLY why people should not expect to be saved by our government. You would have think we would have learned by now from just watching our government in "action". Setting up FEMA in the first place was a dumb idea that just served to provide people with false hope and added another layer of beuracracy to the mix.

 

[rcajun90]

Handing out the 2 grand was only a stupid idea because they gave it to stupid people. It was quite a lifesaver for those who used it wisely. I think one has to examine the real mission of FEMA to determine exactly how good of a job they did. In a disaster of this magnitude and the failure of first responders to do squat, the chances of making mistakes was multiplied 10 fold. I doubt they ever even practiced a scenario when the first responders did nothing.
http://www.fema.gov/library/jma030602.shtm

Who are you calling stupid? The people in the Astrodome or the woman that lived out of car whos husband is fighting in Iraq? The woman that was living out of car and is now staying with friends is back at work.

 

[dilloduck]

Who are you calling stupid? The people in the Astrodome or the woman that lived out of car whos husband is fighting in Iraq? The woman that was living out of car and is now staying with friends is back at work.

The people that got $2000 and spent it in three days on booze.

 

[theHawk]

BTW the Saints game was fun last week here in San Antonio, too bad they didn't have their first 'home game' here instead of in New Jersey. The players seemed happy with the crowd actually cheering for them

 

[GotZoom]

Who are you calling stupid? The people in the Astrodome or the woman that lived out of car whos husband is fighting in Iraq? The woman that was living out of car and is now staying with friends is back at work.

Not everyone who received the money is stupid. The stupid ones, unfortunately, have given the ones who acted responsibly with it a bad name.

 

[dilloduck]

Not everyone who received the money is stupid. The stupid ones, unfortunately, have given the ones who acted responsibly with it a bad name.

Agreed---as usual the media has played up the abuses and neglected those who used their money wisely. They might disagree that it was stupid to hand out the checks as those checks may be what is helping them support themselves now instead of having to wait in a very long soup line somewhere.

 

[rcajun90]

BTW the Saints game was fun last week here in San Antonio, too bad they didn't have their first 'home game' here instead of in New Jersey. The players seemed happy with the crowd actually cheering for them

Glad you had a good time.

 

[rcajun90]

Not everyone who received the money is stupid. The stupid ones, unfortunately, have given the ones who acted responsibly with it a bad name.

You are forgetting about the greedy ones that took it when they didn't need it.

 

[dilloduck]

You are forgetting about the greedy ones that took it when they didn't need it.

Ya, we have those in Austin too---some of the victims are quite adept at hoarding resources while their neighbords suffer. Dispensation of services are monitored poorly if they are at all. Can't blame FEMA for that disaster.