While all hell was breaking loose down South, in Katrina’s aftermath, hundreds of firefighters who were flown in to aid in the rescue effort were held in classrooms for sensitivity training by FEMA, have been put on mop duty, and are performing secretarial tasks.

You only wish I was kidding.

ATLANTA - Hundreds of firefighters who volunteered to help rescue victims of Hurricane Katrina have instead been playing cards, taking classes on FEMA’s history and lounging at an Atlanta airport hotel for days while they await orders.

“On the news every night you hear (hurricane victims say), `How come everybody forgot us?’” said Joseph Manning, a firefighter from Washington, Pa. “We didn’t forget. We’re stuck in Atlanta drinking beer.”

As of Tuesday, some of the firefighters, like Thomas Blomgren of Battle Creek, Mich., had waited at the hotel for four days. Now he and a colleague have been told they may be sent to a hurricane relief camp in South Carolina to do paperwork rather than help the devastated Gulf Coast.

“FEMA hired the best of the best firefighters, got them together and gave them secretary jobs,” Blomgren said.

He and colleague Steven Richardson said they followed FEMA’s advice and brought huge packs filled with special firefighting suits, sleeping bags and lifesaving equipment to survive in harsh conditions for as long as a month. “But we’d be better off bringing pencils and cell phones,” Blomgren grumbled.

They need firefighters to do paperwork? What a colossal waste of manpower.

When FEMA called for 2,000 firefighters from across the country, it made it clear the mission was one of community service and outreach - not firefighting, Russell said. The firefighters are paid by FEMA for their time.

“People are in need,” Russell said. “Sometimes you just need to mop the floor if that’s what’s best for the victims.”

Desk work may be the first priority for some firefighters for now, but the mission’s needs could rapidly change, Russell said. Those who are upset, he said, are free to go. “This is not a draft,” he said.

Where to begin? There’s so much stupidity in that small section!

First: If it was all about service and outreach, why were they told to bring so much equipment?

Second: If you need people to mop the floor, why don’t you take some locals out of the federal courthouses or something and let them do it? Why take firefighting manpower from around the country to mop floors? Answer phones? Process victims? I mean, does this sound like the work of firefighters? Especially ones bussed in from around the country!

In the meantime, the firefighters - some from as far away as Washington state - have received vaccines and specialized training, including classes on sexual harassment, the history of FEMA and how to deal with ethnic groups.

Does my sensitivity matter if I’m saving your life? Honestly, it just doesn’t seem to me to be something they should be doing while people die. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t see the need to school a firefighter on the various aspects of effectively dealing with “different ethnic groups,” when in reality, all they’re there to do is help.

Or at least, that’s what they’re supposed to be there for.

If this is how FEMA handles an emergency, then someone there needs to be fired and now. I’ve seen nothing from FEMA in this emergency that proves that they’re able to respond quickly, efficiently, and effectively. That’s not a good sign from an agency who should be doing exactly that.

Source: AP