FirefighterCloseCalls.com
Clearly, as the days have unfolded following the horrible devastation of Hurricane Katrina, so much has been on everyone’s minds. It appears some may have even forgotten the vital importance of 9/11. That’s for another discussion.
But when it comes to Hurricane Katrina, from the endless news reports of the horrible suffering, to the racial debates, to the yelling of the Mayor, to the Governor and the Feds-and back and forth, we have seen so many issues of concern to us as firefighters. And as citizens.
Without question, “first response” is the local duty of locally elected officials. Every community and their elected officials must pay attention to the obvious warnings. Who did not know that this event was predicted? The problem is, those in charge at the local level just got comfortable, or at least comfortable enough to not be as prepared as they should have been. This was not a terrorist attack, this was a long predicted, expected and foreseeable event.
But getting “too comfortable” is easy. What fire department, either directly or indirectly, hasn’t gotten comfortable and had a close call or near miss? Every fire department has. Every one of us has.
But hopefully, due to the current “culture and attitude” change in the fire service, we are all getting a little less comfortable and a lot more conscientious about “everyone going home.” It took a while, but the message is now visibly out there more everyday, and being “believed in” by a lot more firefighters, fire officers and fire chiefs. The attitude and focus on all of us going home safely is being focused on and acted upon in an unprecedented manner. While it took us awhile, we are all working harder on changing and making improvements to firefighter survival.
DHS and FEMA, under its former boss, also got too comfortable. Maybe even too arrogant or maybe just lost, totally lost, in the world of emergency services within the bowels of DHS. Or maybe that didn’t happen. But the fact of the matter is that something was broken, and it had to do with priorities, politics, losing focus, getting too comfortable and forgetting where the experts are. Sound familiar?
And forget about local or state response not working. That’s for someone else to write about. A probie with 15 minutes on the job could tell that there was simply no leader at the federal level. It was, as the experts say, a leaderless group. And when it comes to a minor emergency or a major one, there must be a leader. Be it the officer in the front seat of Engine 61, or the chief of FEMA. And the leader must be qualified, experienced and have qualified and experienced people working with and for him and know how to use their skills and expertise.
Like him or not, President Bush is our leader. And for whatever other reasons you want to name, the President realized this week that his former FEMA boss was not a leader. Maybe it was seeing people trapped on the roof of their homes for days without help. Maybe it was watching reports of some police officers not showing up for work. But never hearing reports of firefighters doing that? Or maybe it was hearing report after report about the DHS/FEMA bureaucracy. His FEMA bureaucracy. Or maybe it was as simple as him thinking to himself one evening last week, “when there is an emergency, who are the true first responders?” As Harry Truman said, “The Buck Stops Here.” And it did this week right on President Bush’s lap.
Enter U.S. Fire Administrator Chief Dave Paulison. Dave has been in the fire & emergency service for a long time. Dave rode the back step, crawled down more than a few smoky hallways and has never forgotten. Dave was also an emergency manager for Miami-Dade in Florida. He has commanded some significant emergencies from commercial plane crashes to hurricanes. Bad stuff.
And now, for whatever reason people choose, the President took a look in his “basement” at DHS, opened the door marked FEMA, then he peeked in the cubicle labeled U.S. Fire Administration and found a very qualified man in charge to help fix his very large problem. Chief Dave Paulison.
Dave and many of his staff are very qualified to take on this major immediate problem and to help repair and streamline the effectiveness of FEMA. But the former FEMA director ignored Chief Paulison and his crew, ignored them like a jealous child. “What a bunch of dumb firefighters,” some must have thought. Hide’m in the basement.
And what a difference a day, and experience makes.
Chief Dave Paulison will now represent all firefighters as well as all first responders in his responsibility to all Americans. It is pretty clear that he has a huge responsibility ahead and faces problems far from being fixed. Not only is there the current emergency but upcoming ones. And all of that has to be re-worked within a culture that does nothing fast. Clearly, Dave works for the President and not the fire service. But it is obvious the President understands the kind of person he needs in command at FEMA.
FEMA works for and with all first responders now, and we are confident that Dave will make sure the FEMA-ites understand that. The chief is going to have to re-educate those bureaucrats if maybe even by removing some who won’t play ball. There is plenty of room in the basement now. He is also going to have to re-educate his boss, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff who thought that things at FEMA were just fine. Secretary Chertoff must feel like the spouse who was warned about problems existing in paradise and chose to ignore the obvious. Surprise.
We could not have been more thrilled when we were advised that President Bush wants Chief Paulison to take command at FEMA. Dave’s successful history, sincerity and dedication in solving emergency planning and response issues is well documented. His training and education is amongst the highest of levels and his experience rivals the best. As a past President of the I.A.F.C he understands the big picture. But more importantly, he is a firefighter and no other group of people understand emergency services better than firefighters. It’s good to see command being passed to a firefighter.
