One Week Down

I've been trying to think of words, or just one word to best describe what I'm a part of here. The best I can do is 'epic'. I think it sums up the devastation of this parish and the work ahead of them. I've not been able to find the words to sum up this experience, which is why I mostly relay facts as I obtain them.

One of the most impressive things I've found since being here is that everyone, not just some, but everyone you meet from St. Bernard Parish has a story. Everyone here was affected, everyone you meet suffered damage or loss, either personal or property. Given that we're working closely with the St. Bernard Fire Department, I've heard some of their personal stories of survival as well as those of their rescues. I've helped 'gut' the house of one of the 34 who died at St. Rita's Nursing Home. I've personally disposed of pets that were left behind (at what became known to us as the Two Dead Dog House).

Nothing in life has prepared me for what I've witnessed, but then again, I think nothing in life could have prepared these 73,000 residents for what they have experienced.

I've been remiss in not commenting on the SBFD before now, but Chiefs Caluda and Lea have gone out of their way to orchestrate our logistics. We have been so fortunate to have worked with firefighters like Armand, Rick and Andrew who have made us feel so welcome and appreciated for what feels to us like such a small effort in the big picture. The people of this parish are so very well cared for and represented by these fine gentlemen. Before Katrina, St. Bernard parish had about 116 firefighters. After the storm, 94 dedicated souls remained.












Finally, I have a few photos to share. Among these are before and after photos of houses we've gutted, one where we called in assistance from the fire department to help wash away some of the Katrina smell, my little smoking place at Camp Premier and what's left of my team on our last day this week. In all, we cleaned up almost five houses in five days. We still have an hour or so on our last house which we'll pick up on Monday. This time "we" will be a few holdovers from this week's team and some new faces we'll probably meet sometime Sunday. Things will begin to change here next week: over the weekend we expect to get between 250-300 new volunteers. What was once one bus will become six buses of volunteers. We hope to go from 15 houses a week to 90. Still, it will be a small dent in the 5,000 by June, but it is something. And it feels important. Probably because it is.



[2006/02/18 19:00 CST edit: correct spelling of SBFD Chief's name]