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Firefighter lends hand to hurricane victims
By REBECCA CRUSE
Capital
Journal Staff
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Many communities
throughout the world rely on a special group of people for major support.
Volunteer organizations provide services in some of the most important
situations.
When a home or business catches fire or a traffic accident occurs in Pierre or
Fort Pierre volunteers for the fire departments and rescue squads save lives.
One of those volunteers recently branched outside of these communities and
helped the people in the nation who needed it most.
Since November of 2003, Sean Devine, 1st Lt. of Engine Co. No. 2, has been
serving as a volunteer firefighter in Pierre. He also volunteers for the Pierre
Rural Fire Department, Rescue Squad and the Fort Pierre Fire Department, and he
is an EMT.
Devine recently returned to
Pierre
after spending more than seven months responding in the hurricane disaster
areas. He left as a volunteer for FEMA, planning to stay for 30 days, not to
exceed 120 days. But as Devine helped the hurricane victims, he decided that
there was too much need, so he stayed to help.
The call for 2,000 career and 2,000 volunteer firefighters to go to the
hurricane devastated areas came up at a department meeting last September.
In the wake of one of the largest natural disasters in the U.S., FEMA was
looking for pairs of firefighters to work together and provide needed support.
Devine and Curt Hasart, 1st Lt. Engine Co. No. 1, decided to team up and sign
up. They left
Sept. 9, 2005.
Hasart, also department training officer returned last winter to catch up with
his duties here.
Devine returned last Tuesday as a FEMA-trained logistics specialist, which means
he acted as an essential part of the command system ensuring that all of the
operations had all necessary supplies and information.
Despite the circumstances that provided the opportunity, Devine said that he has
enjoyed the experience.
“It was total devastation and being able to help out on something large-scale
like that was really good,” Devine said. “It was a fun experience. I learned a
lot and met a lot of interesting people. I made a lot of friends that I’ll keep
in touch with.”
For Devine and Hasart, the trip began in Atlanta, the staging area for FEMA
volunteers. The duo was processed and began some preliminary training while
waiting for deployment orders, according to Devine.
They were next sent to
Orlando,
Fla., for a week to work and for additional training. One of their jobs in
Orlando was to register hurricane victims for disaster assistance.
After leaving
Orlando,
the team was sent to Washington, D.C., to continue with more of the same
registration support.
Eventually, they received the all-clear sign to enter Louisiana and begin the
major field work. They went to
Baton Rouge
and worked in a joint-field office first and then entered New Orleans.
“It was kind of like a sci-fi movie or something,” said Devine recalling the
first night that he drove into New Orleans. “We were driving past the Superdome
area–everybody knows the Superdome and what happened there.–It was pitch black,
there was nobody around, no street lights, no headlights.”
Devine got an eerie feeling from the quiet and dark city.
“There’s been quite a bit of progress now though,” Devine said. “There are some
really bad parts still, but a lot of it has been cleaned up. There was no one at
first, but I was in a traffic jam when I left.”
Devine and Hasart’s field jobs began with community relations throughout New
Orleans. They worked with Task Force 83 to make sure that people had food and
water and the proper contacts for FEMA.
The teams stayed in base camps in the beginning at Port Island base camp, New
Orleans base camp and Algiers base camp. They also stayed in a church in Harvey,
a parish outside the city.
Eventually, as the clean-up and restoration efforts made headway, the volunteers
were moved to hotels from which they continued to work.
“There were about 3,000 to 4,000 firefighters in task forces reporting to FEMA.
They did a good job of organizing the chaos,” Devine said.
He added that there were also thousands of volunteers from the Red Cross, many
church groups and other organizations.
The work provided by all of these people has paid off, according to Devine. He
said that the conditions in the city have improved greatly since he arrived
there in September.
“Mitigation has started and they’re in the rebuilding process now. The levees
are supposed to be done by June 1,” Devine said.
During the months that Devine worked in New Orleans, the relief effort changed
to a long-term recovery effort despite some opposition to rebuilding the
below-sea level city.
“It’s definitely a weird area to build a city, but it’s home to so many people
that feel strongly about it,” Devine said.
Devine may return to work for FEMA next fall, but he hasn’t decided for sure.
The experience has gotten Devine thinking about firefighter/paramedic as a
career though.
“It opened a few doors for me. I’ll have the opportunity to go back if I want,”
said Devine. “They’re predicting an active hurricane season again, so I’ll see
if they need me.”
But for now, Devine intends to relax for a few months. He said he plans to catch
up with some fire department and EMT work, get some work done around his house
and take a vacation.
“I’m going to do some thinking over the summer, but I think I’ll return.”
Story by: REBECCA CRUSE
Capital Journal, Pierre, SD
www.capitaljournal.com
For more information about the Pierre Fire
Department, e-mail the PFD
webmaster.
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