http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/09/03/katrina.unusedgear/index.html
Firefighting gear stockpile unused
>From CNN Producer Mike M. Ahlers
Saturday, September 3, 2005 Posted: 1009 GMT (1809 HKT)
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*WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Nine stockpiles of fire-and-rescue equipment
strategically placed around the country to be used in the event of a
catastrophe still have not been pressed into service in New Orleans, five
days after Hurricane Katrina, CNN has learned.*
Responding to a CNN inquiry, Department of Homeland Security spokesman Marc
Short said Friday the gear has not been moved because none of the governors
in the hurricane-ravaged area has requested it.
A federal official said the department's Office for Domestic Preparedness
reminded the Louisiana and Mississippi governors' offices about the
stockpiles on Wednesday and Thursday, but neither governor had requested it.
(See the mayor blister feds for requiring formal queries for help --
0:34<javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/us/2005/09/02/sot.nagin.what.form.affl','/us');>
)
The gear -- including generators, radios, breathing apparatus, cots and
other items -- is stockpiled by DHS in nine locations. The three closest to
New Orleans are College Station, Texas; Columbia, S.C.; and Clearwater, Fla.
The gear is intended to replenish or sustain up to 150 first responders.
Contractors who maintain the gear are required to transport it to a disaster
site no later than 12 hours after the initial request is made by local
authorities and approved by DHS.
Short said that while the stashes contain some items like generators, much
of the gear would not be useful in the circumstances faced by the Gulf Coast
region.
But Steve Beaumont, a retired contract manager for Homeland Security's
Prepositioned Equipment Program, said the gear would be helpful for fire
departments wiped out by the hurricane. Each pod has 200 radios, including
sophisticated equipment to make radios inter-operable, tying different
communications systems together. (Watch the video of first responders in
'hell' --
3:25<javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/law/2005/09/02/lawrence.night.of.hell.cnn');>
)
"The concept was basically, if you had a major incident, this equipment
could be brought into the city and reconstitute the local first responders.
So they get fresh bunking gear, breathing apparatus," Beaumont said.
Each stockpile consists of a tractor-trailer filled with $2.2 million in
gear, he said. Contractors are on call 24 hours a day to move the gear.
"There has been no movement of this equipment to this emergency. As of now
there's been no movement at all," Beaumont said. (See the video of the mayor
demanding feds to 'get off their asses' --
12:09<javascript:cnnVideo('play','/video/law/2005/09/02/lawrence.night.of.hell.cnn');>)
"I think it's sad because you've got almost ... $20 million worth of gear
that's ready to be distributed. You've firefighters (in New Orleans)
fighting fires in shorts. That tells me they're running out of stuff."
The project is run by DHS' Office for Domestic Preparedness.
--
....as scenes of horror that seemed to be coming from some third world
country flashed before us, official Washington was like a dog watching
television. It saw the lights and images but did not seem to comprehend
their meaning or see any link to reality - Bob Schieffer, Face the Nation,
9/4/2005
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