FEMA struggles to hit a new low.

www.hotchicken.com ^ | 9-7-05 | www.hotchicken.com

[thebiggestdog]

Mike Brown from FEMA is probably having a real bad week. His request for help for the gulf states was too little, and too late, but is he at the root of the problem? New Orelans, and the state of Louisiana was woefully unprepared for this event, but instead of taking any sort of blame, they immediately attack the federal government and the president.

[CharlesWayneCT]

No, the 1000 people he sent down were support troops, not first responders. They weren't needed until 48-72 hours after the accident, as they were to help with logistics for people after they had been rescued and processed.

He had sent rescue support people to the area BEFORE the storm hit. But you don't want to put too many people in harm's way, so you only send down the people you need.

After the storm, when it was clear how many people were needed, they quickly reacted to get those people trained and in place. They had never had a storm which required 1000 people before.

I also beleive that the original group of already-trained FEMA people were over in Florida -- remember Katrina hit there first a few days earlier.

Brown's biggest problem is a perception problem, because he never seems to get rattled or worked up. And sometimes people want to see someone worked up. Giullianie was great at getting "passionate", Brown is not.

[coconutt2000]

I wonder if the 1,000 Homeland Security employees were unskilled volunteers and not trained rescue and response personnel.

A bum rush to the disaster area by volunteers would've only burdened the rescue workers with a lot more people to look after and to care for.

If my supposition is true, then the primary use of these 1,000 HS employees would've been as supportive labor. A role that doesn't do much good if they get there before the equipment.

[Coop]

This article is a steaming pile.

[johnny7]

I'll agree with that.

[Polybius]

His request for help for the gulf states was too little, and too late, but is he at the root of the problem? New Orelans, and the state of Louisiana was woefully unprepared for this event, but instead of taking any sort of blame, they immediately attack the federal government and the president.

Well, for one thing, you do not send people and supplies into the teeth of a storm. You have to wait a certain time before it is safe to enter the ravaged area.

Secondly, NOBODY was supposed to be left trapped in the New Orleans flood bowl death trap as 200,000 low-income residents were as a result of the gross and possibly criminal negligence on the part of the Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, and the Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, who failed to follow their own evacuation plan prior to the landfall of Katrina.

New Orleans is in a Storm Surge Zone, below sea level, and surrounded by levies that were only designed to withstand storms lass than a slow-moving Category 3 hurricane. That means that any person staying in New Orleans during a Category 3 or higher hurricane is facing a very high risk of death. Katrina was forecast as a Category 5 and hit as a Category 4.

What Is "Storm Surge" and Why It Matters.

The 2004 Hurricane Pam Exercise was modeled on a catastrophic destruction of New Orleans after only a slow-moving Category 3 hurricane. It was based on the assumption that there had been a complete evacuation of New Orleans. Shelters outside of the New Orleans flood bowl had already been identified:

Hurricane Pam Exercise Concludes.(2004 New Orleans Disaster Prediction)

President Bush requested that Governor Blanco allow the Federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, and Governor Blanco, for political reasons, refused:

Behind the scenes, a power struggle emerged, as federal officials tried to wrest authority from Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D). Shortly before midnight Friday, the Bush administration sent her a proposed legal memorandum asking her to request a federal takeover of the evacuation of New Orleans, a source within the state's emergency operations center said Saturday..........The administration sought unified control over all local police and state National Guard units reporting to the governor. Louisiana officials rejected the request after talks throughout the night, concerned that such a move would be comparable to a federal declaration of martial law. Some officials in the state suspected a political motive behind the request. "Quite frankly, if they had been able to pull off taking it away from the locals, they then could have blamed everything on the locals", said the source, who does not have the authority to speak publicly.

The Southeast Louisiana Evacuation plan supplement, revised in 2000, page 13, read paragraph 5, stated:

5. The primary means of hurricane evacuation will be personal vehicles. School and municipal buses, government-owned vehicles and vehicles provided by volunteer agencies may be used to provide transportation for individuals who lack transportation and require assistance in evacuating. In spite of that,over four hundred New Orleans publicly owned buses remained parked in neat rows and 200,000 low-income New Orleans residents were left trapped in the ¡§New Orleans flood bowl¡¨ (as scientists call it) in the face of the incoming storm surge.

Those 400+ buses, at 70 passengers per bus, could have taken 28,000 of those low-income citizens per trip out of New Orleans on the inbound lanes that the Governor and Mayor inexplicably left unused during the evacuation.

As a result, 200,000 of the poorest residents of New Orleans were left trapped din a disaster waiting to happen with no where to go but the Superdome.

While 800,000 of New Orleans' residents with private transportation were being saved, 200,000 of New Orleans', low-income residents were left abandoned by the Governor and the Mayor in the New Orleans flood bowl to face a Category 4 Hurricane Storm Surge.

If the levies had failed catastrophically instead of at a few certain point as they did, the death toll would have reached Hiroshima proportions.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I will tell you this.

The USDA uses NICC to support FEMA with organizational people pulled from wildland firefighting management to help with storms.

Normally, the first morning after a storm, in their morning report, they mention which teams are being deployed to help with the storm.

It wasn't in that first report, on the 29th when, based on past experiences, I expected to see it. Well, I said, even though the president prepositioned things, it's too soon. None on the 30th, when I knew there should have been something in the NICC report.

It didn't have its first report of Fema deployment until August 31, and it was small:

An Area Command Team (Williams-Rhodes) is deployed to the Regional Response Coordination Center in Atlanta, GA. for Hurricane Katrina Support.

But something happened by the morning of September 1 to kick things into high gear. They jumped the national preparedness level up from 3 where it had been most of the summer to 4, for the first time and were putting together a big response:

HURRICANE KATRINA SUPPORT, Federal Emergency Management Agency. Emergency Support Function #4 is staffed at the Regional Response Coordination Centers in Atlanta, GA and Denton, TX. Three Type 1 Incident Management Teams (Custer, Quesinberry and Pincha-Tulley) are assigned. Custer's Team
is working to establish a base camp in Port Allen, LA. Quesinberry's Team is assigned to a logistics staging area in Meridian, MS. Pincha-Tulley's Team will establish and manage a base camp at Stennis Space Center in MS.

Two additional Type 1 Incident Management Teams (Gelobter and Cable) have been ordered. A Type 2 Incident Management Team (Lineback) is providing mobilization center support at Pineville, LA. A Planning Team is in place at the Long Term Recovery Center in Orlando, FL.

Five Logistics Management Teams have been mobilized; two at Meridian, MS, and one each at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, AL, Barksdale Air Force Base, LA and Beauregard, LA. A Florida State All Risk Incident Management Team (Hill) has been assigned to Biloxi, MS. The Team is providing logistical support for Florida Urban Search and Rescue teams. A Florida State Incident Management Team (Jones) has established a Logistics Staging Area at Stennis Space Center in MS. The Team is helping with distribution of relief supplies throughout southern Mississippi. A National Park Service All Risk Team has been ordered for Jean Lafitte
National Historical Park and Preserve in New Orleans.

This has to go through channels. The USDA is the front organization, but it uses a lot of people from Interior as well - it is a true interagency activity, with an excellent incident command structure, able to supply help where it is needed in a great distributed network. People come from all over the world to try to figure out how the fire people do this.

But it was slow getting off the ground. Not because there were people unavailable, but because the requests didn't come through as quickly as one might have expected.

Since it takes a couple of days often to get everybody on scene, the fact they didn't order the first teams up on the 28th or 29th is an example of prepositioning that in hindsight would have been handy - I know that at that time, they didn't know how bad the storm damage would be, but they knew it was coming.

William-Rhodes, the first area command deployed is in the Southern region. She was there and could have been deployed easily by Region 8 if the request had come down a day earlier.

Hindsight, though, is 100%. What is heartening is the current response.

HURRICANE KATRINA SUPPORT, Federal Emergency Management Agency. Emergency Support Function #4 is staffed at the Regional Response Coordination Centers in Atlanta, GA and Denton, TX. Seven Type 1 Incident Management Teams (Custer, Quesinberry, Pincha-Tulley, Gelobter, Cable, Molumby and Wilcock) are assigned. Custer's Team is managing an evacuation center and base camp, and also supporting the Army's 82nd Airborne mission at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, LA. Quesinberry's Team is managing a mobilization center at Meridian Naval Air Station in MS. Pincha-Tulley's Team is managing a base camp and supporting the receiving and distribution of relief supplies at Stennis Space Center in MS. The Team also assisted in establishing an incident command post for FEMA. Gelobter's Team is managing a base camp at Gautier, MS. Cable's Team is establishing a base camp and providing support for 600 out of state firefighters at Baton Rouge, LA. Molumby's Team continues to construct and manage a base camp in support of the Disaster Mortuary Operation Response Team at St. Gabriel, LA. Wilcock's Team has arrived in Marietta, GA, and will receive briefing and be assigned today.

Eight Type 2 Incident Management Teams (Mullenix, Smith, Thomas, Philbin, Stanford, Hildreth, Whalen and Sinclear) are assigned. Mullenix's Team is assigned to an evacuation center housing more than 12,000 evacuees at San Antonio, TX. Smith's Team is managing a base camp at Camp Shelby, MS. Thomas' Team is establishing a base camp in Gulfport, MS. Philbin's Team is being assigned to a new evacuee center in Phoenix, AZ. A Texas State Incident Management Team (Stanford) is assigned at Hammond, LA. A North Carolina State Incident Management Team (Hildreth) is managing a base camp and staging area at Shiner Brooklet Field, Mobile, AL. Two Type 2 Incident Management Teams (Whalen and Sinclear) are in Jackson, MS to support National Forest recovery operations in Mississippi. A Planning Team (Terry) is supporting relief efforts at the Long Term Recovery Center in Orlando, FL.

Five Logistics Management Teams (Privy, Humphrey, Line back, Jenkins and Floyd) have been mobilized; two to Meridian, MS, and one each to Camp Beauregard, LA, Maxwell Air Force Base, AL, and Barksdale Air Force Base, LA. A Florida State All Risk Incident Management Team (Hill) has been assigned at Biloxi, MS. The Team is providing logistical support to Urban Search and Rescue teams. A Florida State Incident Management Team (Jones) has established a Logistical Staging Area at Stennis Space Center in MS. National Park Service All Risk Teams have been assigned to various areas to assist with hurricane recovery. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service team is engaged in road clearing, community assistance, and supporting search and rescue work in LaCombe, MS.


There are only about 16 type one teams - these are management teams specialized in dealing with situations that involve locals in danger and how to work with the local authorities, and how to cope with very complicated, politically charged situations while still fighting the fires or helping with the logistics of disaster. Half of them are on the job in the disaster relief. Amazing response.

[VRWCmember]

Written like a true bureaucrat.

Something written like a true bureaucrat is better written than the tripe of this author. Just in that itty-bitty excerpt there were several spelling and grammatical errors. Someone with such poor writing and proof-reading skills should refrain from criticizing someone else's writing.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

People don't realize how these things work.

First is the situation.

Then the small FEMA full-time staff calls up its team members, who mostly work in other government agencies.

Then requests are sent out for help, like to the USDA, which has to get teams ordered up.

Once the team leaders have the request, they have to call their team members, and organize travel for them.

Other agencies, like fire departments, etc. are contacted, and they in turn get people on the road.

FEMA is not set up to be a first response organization. I don't think any national organization can do this on a disaster this big. Even in the wildland fire business, it's the local people who have to start fighting the fire first, so in a local disaster, the local authorities HAVE to be the first line.

Two to three days to get people where they are needed when you are mobilizing from out of state.

Complicate this with jurisdiction turf wars, and it gets slower.

People don't realize you don't snap a magic finger and suddenly, there are a swarm of disaster relief specialists there for the bidding.

[Travis McGee]

Howlin, do you have that sat image of the tropical storm over the middle of the South on Tueday or Wednesday?

Folks have no clue about logistics staging. They think 40,000 troops can all be "teleported" into an area by magic.

It would be like the media demanding that Ike send the entire invasion force to Normandy "NOW! RIGHT NOT! ALL OF THEM!" because the first wave was in dire trouble and taking more casualties than expected.

Really, we have so many stupid folks in the MSM who cannot grasp the concept of the phased arrival of a logistical train, especially considering all of the bridges out, detours, limited highway access etc.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

This is why it hurts when the locals act stupid. They have to be the first line of help/defense/aid. And when they do act stupid, lives are unnecessarily lost.

People must think entire teams of people are at some FEMA base ready to be deployed by c-130s and parachute or something.

In the wildland fire business, first the local people start working on it, and if it is big then there is a request for help, then the call goes out to whoever is up in the rotation, then the orders to the dispatcher to assemble the team and order the equipment and arrange transportation, car rentals, truck rentals or whatever. Then it can take a day if its in region, or a couple or three days if its not to get everybody there. And these people are trained in advance with one of the most excellent distributed networks for response and often work together.

In a disaster, you are dealing with groups that often don't work together, may not use an incident command structure often, and aren't set up with all the dispatch techniques. This is why it's crazy. And takes time.

[Howlin]

I'm looking for the one you're talking about, but here is one from space on August 28th.

[Howlin]

[Travis McGee]

Can you imagine if 40,000 troops in 100s of component commands were ordered on Tuesday: "Go to New Orleans as fast as you can! Just go! Now! ASAP!

The resulting gridlock and chaos would take weeks to unwind.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Exactly! It's hard to do these things. And if you do it too topheavy instead of listening to what people on the ground say, you can only make it worse.

There's an art to it.

[Howlin]

[Howlin]

I just got back from the hair dresser and the grocery store.

People are SNEERING at the press; and I swear, I just LISTENED; they are sick of the press.

And we are talking about people in North Carolina, where we know FEMA doesn't arrive for a couple of days.

There is going to be a backlash.

[newfrpr04]

Then they need to get on television and counter the attacks over and over until you can drill it on all the politicians who keep putting their 2 cents worth of bs without looking at was done. Don't these people at all levels have a checklist to cross reference to make sure things are being done and avoids mistakes, especially when time is critical.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I know a lot of people are tired of it.

[Travis McGee]

It would be just as stupid as ordering Ike to throw every troop and tank in England at Normandy on D-day, "because our first wave soldiers are dying and they need help NOW!!!"

Liberals are too stupid to grasp the concept of phased logistics.