By Becky Bohrer
The Associated Press

AP Photo/Alex Brandon Some of the people that helped rebuild the firehouse for Engine 33 signed a beam.

NEW ORLEANS — It's one of the best gifts Tim McConnell can imagine giving: two more damaged firehouses, rebuilt and ready for firefighters to move into by Christmas.

"Watching the face of a firefighter as he's moving out of a trailer into a firehouse, it's amazing," McConnell, a chief for the New Orleans Fire Department, said.

Hurricane Katrina damaged 22 of the department's 33 firehouses, he said, forcing many firefighters to work from trailers. In the nearly 28 months since Katrina, 11 of the houses have been repaired, and three, nearly, McConnell said, with efforts led by private interests, including firefighters, volunteers and unions, businesses and The Leary Firefighters Foundation.

The foundation became involved after its founder, actor Denis Leary, visited a damaged firehouse while here to donate rescue boats to the department last fall. He promised to raise money to fix it, McConnell said.

Construction began in March, McConnell said, and since then grants, donated materials and volunteers work have helped repair that house and six others. All but three have been moved into; two, including one damaged in a tornado this year, should be ready by Christmas and the other, next month, McConnell said.

The foundation and others planned a news conference Monday both to tout the work done over the past year and draw attention to the work that's left. The foundation plans to help rebuild four more firehouses next year but estimates it will cost $500,000 because of the damage.

One of the houses set to open this month is in Lakeview. In that neighborhood, which was more affluent than other hard-hit areas before the storm and has rebounded more strongly than others since, residents have held T-shirt sales and fundraisers for firehouse repairs and equipment.

"You can't have a community without fire stations and police stations. We just can't over look that," Nancy Lytle, a resident involved in local fundraising efforts for the houses. "They are very much a part of my community, and it needs to be done."

City officials believe rebuilding public infrastructure is vital to strengthening neighborhoods, bolstering investment and bringing people back.

New Orleans' recovery director Ed Blakely said in an e-mail Sunday that limited funds had prevented the city from moving faster to rebuild police stations and firehouses.

The city was able to open temporary sites by borrowing money from other departments and some permanent sites are expected in the coming weeks, he said.

A $200 million revolving loan fund, largely meant for projects whose costs ultimately would be reimbursed by the federal government, should speed efforts to rebuild such "critical facilities" as the remaining firehouses, he said.

Plans call for rebuilding, renovating and combining houses in some areas, he said. This fall, he set mid-2008 as a target for completing the work.

Leary's foundation estimates $250,000 in direct grants, more than $500,000 in donated labor, more than $300,000 in materials and appliances and at least 5,000 volunteer hours have gone toward the Firehouse Restoration Fund so far.

Leary, in a statement, said he's been pleased with the support. Firefighters and residents "have been reminded that the citizens of this country still care about the devastation they suffered during the storm, that we treasure our firefighters and we are grateful for all they do to protect us."

Leary started his foundation after a fire in Worcester, Mass., killed six firefighters, including a cousin of his and a childhood friend. He stars in an FX drama about New York firefighters, "Rescue Me."

McConnell, who's leading the firehouse rebuilding efforts for the department, said the new houses are great, both for the extra room, new kitchens and lockers and for the boost in morale and the signal they send to the neighborhoods they're in.

"Everybody, from childhood on knows where there fire station is," he said. "When they see that it's back, they know they can come back."