Let the *mumble mumble* burn (via MetaFilter):
As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta.
Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers.
Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA.
Well, if anybody knows about matching a person's position to their abilities, it's FEMA.
On Monday, some firefighters stuck in the staging area at the Sheraton peeled off their FEMA-issued shirts and stuffed them in backpacks, saying they refuse to represent the federal agency.
Federal officials are unapologetic.
"I would go back and ask the firefighter to revisit his commitment to FEMA, to firefighting and to the citizens of this country," said FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak. The firefighters - or at least the fire chiefs who assigned them to come to Atlanta - knew what the assignment would be, Hudak said.
"The initial call to action very specifically says we're looking for two-person fire teams to do community relations," she said. "So if there is a breakdown [in communication], it was likely in their own departments."
One fire chief from Texas agreed that the call was clear to work as community-relations officers. But he wonders why the 1,400 firefighters FEMA attracted to Atlanta aren't being put to better use. He also questioned why the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - of which FEMA is a part - has not responded better to the disaster.
Careful there, don't you know now is not the time to be playing the blame game? Why, our President will be leading an investigation into his own Administration about why they screwed the pooch.
You can't get much more thorough than that, really.
Meanwhile, at least some of those firefighters are being put to good use:
But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.
Disaster accomplished.
Oh fuuuuuuuuuck. Could this get any worse?
*dodges raining frogs and locusts*
Ah yes.
What's better than the image of firefighters peeling off their shirts?
Ah, the image of firefighters peeling off their shirts in protest of a corrupt administration.
But seriously, only the Bush administration could be given a disaster and somehow manage to turn it into the biggest disaster on American soil.
Before anyone goes off the deep end blaming an elected official or agency for WHAT YOU THINK HAPPENED IN THIS INSTANCE...
Please read the formal description for this special request for Firefighters who were told first, foremost and at all times that this unique deployment was solely for long-term human and social services related to the recovery phase and not rescue.
This call was VERY SPECIFICALLY for a 2,000 strong cadre of Firefighters from across the nation, who are seen as friends of the community, to take on a humanitarian role in the *weeks* that followed the Hurricane. That any of the Firefighters or Chiefs who came to the assembly point or sent personnel may have thought otherwise only proves them to be fools.
Firefighters with special disaster training had already been requested, sent and arrived.
The Firefighters mentioned in the article failed to read the very vivid and detailed instructions they were provided prior to signing up.
Don't blame FEMA for this, blame these backwoods Firefighters and their Chiefs who failed to properly assemble and network specially skilled teams prior to the event, and now made it clear to the world they can't read the simple instructions sent by FEMA for Firefighter-based Humanitarian Aid - NOT Fire or Rescue operations.
Just because these people were "Firefighters" doesn't mean they should be exempt from reading the instructions. Would they go to a clealy labeled vegan restaurant and throw a hissy-fit because they couldn't get a steak?
I'm a Firefighter, and I read the notice. It was clear to me what they were looking for. What a shame that some Firefighters, Fire Chiefs and Reporters just don't get it.
All you guys pointing out the failures of FEMA and the various government agencies sadden me. Believe me, I hate W as much as anyone, loathe narrow-minded politicians and the machines they've created, but now is not the time. Truly the failures were a product of a system and not just one or two idiots. Yes, let's change it, but not now. Instead, focus all of your energy, resources, and time on the immediate task at hand, which is helping others in need.
One woman I work with is housing 12 family members, another has 5, one of my students has 11 people at his house, and one of my students can't get word of his dad in Slidell, LA. And one sweet little girl entered my class for the first time today and had the wherewithal to focus on the lesson instead of the home she lost. I dare say that blame is very low on the list of things that any of those people are worried about.
Vote all the bastards out of office, but not now.
IMPEACH KING GEORGE FOR TREASON! IMPEACH KING GEORGE FOR TREASON! IMPEACH KING GEORGE FOR TREASON! Dissolve the Department for Homeland Screwtiny....er...Scrutiny...er...Security....in fact, dissolve the federal morass and allow Regionalism to reign.
Just because these people were "Firefighters" doesn't mean they should be exempt from reading the instructions.
Maybe not. How silly of them to assume FEMA wanted them to - I don't know - fight fires rather than do PR work.
Yes, let's change it, but not now. Instead, focus all of your energy, resources, and time on the immediate task at hand, which is helping others in need
Two posts in the last week. That's how much of my "resources" have been focused on the crisis management screw-up. Practically every web site in existence has a disaster relief banner and a shitload of links, but me - well, I focus on the negative, frankly. That's the way I've chosen to channel my online concerns. Sure, I could put up post after post asking you to give give give, but I think the message is out.
And as for helping in more tangible ways...I was never one to get in pissing matches about how big my charitable gonads are. Our household has done what it can this last week, and we'll continue to do what we can in the coming months.
And more importantly, talking about how "this isn't the time to point fingers" is exactly how shit like the FUBAR'ed govt. reaction gets forgotten. Because for them, it will never be the time to point fingers.
"FUBAR'ed govt."... ROFL, that's a classic!
Pete,
This is yer ol' uncle Mac asking that you apologize to the Firefighters and all the other folks in this world who actually do something important for a living... unlike you and I.
This is yer ol' uncle Mac asking that you apologize to the Firefighters and all the other folks in this world who actually do something important for a living
I'm not sure what you mean, I should be apologizing them because FEMA is not actually letting them work for a living?
This is a new low, even for G.W.B.