Psychology

New group targets firehouse problems

Push for money to fix stations stepped up

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

By Coleman Warner

A newly created private foundation supporting New Orleans firefighters aims to first address one hurricane recovery sore point: More than two years after Katrina, little or no money from FEMA's infrastructure repair program has been put to work on destroyed or badly damaged city firehouses.

The New Orleans Firefighters Foundation will pressure officials in the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Mayor Ray Nagin's administration to wring repair money out of the Public Assistance grant program, said the new group's chairman, First NBC Bank President Ashton Ryan.

In the meantime, bankers will study creating a loan pool that could be tapped more immediately for fire station repairs, in anticipation of FEMA grants paying the money back, he said.

And firefighters and community groups, weary of waiting on the federal money, have moved forward on the assumption they may wait months or years longer before the city and FEMA get the job done.

"The firemen (in Lakeview) are literally selling T-shirts to raise money to help them fix the firehouse," said Bari Landry, president of the Lakeview Civic Improvement Association, who didn't attend the foundation news conference.

"You don't know where the FEMA money is, you don't know if anybody cares," she said. "The community cares."

'The money's available'

FEMA officials, responding to media inquiries, said they've reserved $9.1 million for building repairs in the fire department, but that their records show the city, which must obtain the money through the state, has drawn down just $63,000. The money would go to repairs or replacing contents at 32 fire stations, affecting nearly the entire system, they said.

"The money's available; it's on the table," said FEMA spokesman Bob Josephson. "It's time for the city to move forward with these repairs."

Nagin administration officials didn't respond to questions late Tuesday. Months ago, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Cynthia Sylvain-Lear said work on fire stations was slowed by FEMA's use of repair estimates that were far too low -- that the city had to find money elsewhere in its budget to cover the gaps. But Josephson said if an estimate proves low, a project still can move forward as the city asks FEMA for more money.

The Public Assistance program is expected to funnel billions of dollars to the repair of public buildings, roads and water supply lines across south Louisiana, but procedural red tape and cost negotiations often have led to long delays in releasing money.

In a firefighting system that saw wholesale damage from Katrina, even in nonflooded areas, 15 stations initially reopened using trailers -- all furnished by FEMA -- and seven of those stations have since been restored to use.

Making things happen

But limited repairs to fire stations have been made possible by private donations, volunteer labor and firefighters' own work on the buildings, said District Chief Timothy McConell, coordinator of the ad hoc rebuilding effort.

"Everybody's aware that the government should be doing it," but patience with the FEMA rebuilding program has worn thin, he said.

Ryan and Fire Superintendent Charles Parent, who attended a news conference announcing the foundation's creation, didn't directly criticize the Nagin administration or FEMA.