The Associated Press
DENVER - Two firefighters from Centennial working at a shelter for Katrina evacuees in Fort Worth, Texas, are credited with the long-distance rescue of a family of four, including a paraplegic, still trapped in their house in New Orleans.
Firefighter Patrick O’Brien said he and his partner, Gary Federick, of the South Metro Fire & Rescue, overheard Shawn Pleasant trying to get help for her family.
“She had gone around the shelter here for three days talking to different people and kept getting the runaround. My partner and I found that to be completely outrageous,” said O’Brien in a telephone interview Sunday.
He said Pleasant’s family had a cell phone but could only call her because their minutes were used up but her cell phone plan allowed unlimited calls between family members. She said they had been out of food and water for four days and couldn’t travel because her step father is a paraplegic.
‘“Because we are part of a FEMA urban rescue team we were able to make contact with people in the New Orleans area. We started making calls to police and FEMA and some contacts she gave us. Finally, after a day of working on it, we made contact with somebody down who knew them. We don’t know exactly who it was. It took about half an hour to convince them but we finally got them to drive into the area,” said O’Brien.
The family, which had tried to leave earlier but couldn’t get out even though their neighborhood wasn’t flooded, was rescued and hopes to soon join Pleasant in Fort Worth.
“Firefighters O’Brien and Federico performed an heroic service through their diligence.” said FEMA’s Fort Worth operations senior official, Dennis Hunsinger. “Their action highlights the crucial difference firefighters from across the country are making through their work at FEMA’s Disaster Recovery Centers, and shows that you don’t have to be physically at the scene of a disaster in order to save lives.”
Hunsinger said O’Brien and Federico are part of unit of 142 firefighters from throughout the county who are performing crucial sevices for FEMA in the Fort Worth area. Duties include community outreach operations to provide vital information and help to all people affected by Hurricane Katrina living in the Fort Worth area. Their work has helped register hundreds of eligible people for FEMA relief services.