The rationale for the emergency triage approach allows for the rescue of as many people as possible as quickly as possible. After the majority of the patients leave, rescuers can then concentrate on the more critical ones, who take longer to move.
The NOFD firefighters worked independently of the Shreveport guys. There was enough work to go around.
Capt. Aitken recalled not agreeing with the imposed triage system. The NOFD men literally carried patients all day long to the boats and from the boats to the helicopters. Firefighter Gabe King said that patients from Lindy Boggs were loaded first onto the helicopters followed by people from the neighborhood who were trying to evacuate as well. Neighborhood people perfectly understood and agreed that sick people should be evacuated first. Their approach was contrary to MCI protocol.
The staging area atop the train tracks was about 1½ miles from Lindy Boggs, whereas the post office was right next door to Lindy Boggs. The Cajun Navy was immensely helpful in moving the patients in the boats. They had very sick people, including people on spine boards brought to the staging area at the train tracks via boat.
On Wednesday, August 30th, 2005, boatload after boatload of people arrived at the staging area. 2 helicopters were waiting sitting face to face near an area of dry land by the post office near Lindy Boggs. They were taking people back and forth all day. The Cajun Navy moved the folks and brought in boats from the staging area to another at the I-10/I-610 overpass. Other people were airlifted out by the helicopters, which could hold up to 15 people per trip.
Patients from the hospital were evacuated (several hundred during the course of the day) via boat to the staging area on the train tracks. Hundreds of people were evacuated by helicopter at the landing zone set up next to the post office. The transporting and evacuation of people went on all day.
Joe recalled the firefighters and civilians in boats would retrieve the people from the hospital in teams, bring them to the tracks, and transfer them to boats, which would take them to dry areas. Many of the people were transported to the Louis B Armstrong Airport, which became a staging area for people being rescued from the floodwaters.
Members of the Cajun Navy and other volunteers agreed to meet the firefighters again on Thursday morning to pick up where they had left off after it got too dark to operate safely the night before. By Wednesday evening, August 30th, the firefighters had evacuated about 400 people, including most of the 120 patients from Lindy Boggs, as well as hundreds of others from the neighborhoods who were stranded or who needed help to get out.
Joe’s team returned to the staging area Thursday morning to continue evacuating the remaining people from Lindy Boggs as well as other people in the neighborhood still stranded in the upper levels or on the roofs of their homes. Joe recalled that on Thursday morning, “We threw a couple of boats over and I remember it was quiet, like there was no one there, and I was on these train tracks by myself. I kept thinking how odd this was, as I was waiting for the ‘Cajun Navy’ to show back up again.”
They sent Firefighter Gabe King, Operator Steve Condon and Capt. Mike Donaldson to Lindy Boggs to continue bringing the people out by boat. About mid-morning on Thursday, they got a call from the Chief saying that the operation was shutting down.
Apparently, the operation was no longer considered safe. Helicopters and rescue workers were being shot at in the city. Joe recalled “I remember how much the dynamics changed; the whole mood and everything changed.”
Joe said, “It was a lonely feeling…the operation was shut down because of security concerns. We were told that the 82nd Airborne was coming in to do the remainder of the evacuations. We were ordered out and believed that help from the military was imminent.” They learned that there were riots, looting, and craziness going on in the city. Joe recalled hearing of a young girl who had been on one of the boats who had been raped. “It was pretty disheartening. I mean what a shame!”
Joe and his team had seen everything from heroism, camaraderie, a huge spirit of cooperation between firefighters and the civilian volunteers, with people helping each other as best they could. “Then contrast that with what we heard later and what the rest of the world was seeing, I mean it was riots, and fires, and people stealing stuff…it was disheartening.”
Early afternoon on Thursday, Joe and his crew were transported to a Coast Guard station. From the station, they were bought to the New Orleans Saints Training Facility next to Zephyr Field in Metairie, Louisiana, where they met up with some U.S.A.R. (Urban Search and Rescue) people, some from all over the country. Joe recalled that the U.S.A.R. folks treated him and his crew like royalty. “I mean, it was humbling how well they treated us.” Access to showers and a warm meal were a blessing and highly appreciated by Joe and his crew. They slept on the 50-yard line of the indoor Saints' training facility, along with the U.S.A.R. teams and the National Guard. Joe recalled that astroturf was surprisingly comfortable.
Joe also remembered that upon arrival at the complex there was activity everywhere. He was impressed with what he saw. There was a security checkpoint at the road that led into both facilities. 18-wheelers full of supplies were arriving by the minute. He saw U.S.A.R. teams with their equipment spread out and sectioned off across the parking lots of the Saints' facility. Some of the crews had been out already, some had just arrived and they were anxious for assignments. Communication systems were established including computers, radio systems, satellite dishes, televisions, and fax machines.
On the Saints' practice field, helicopters from different agencies and of all persuasions landed and took off by the dozens. Hundreds of helicopters flew overhead each couple of hours. Several hundred National Guard personnel were there with their own equipment. The Saints' cafeteria was used to cook food to feed all of the personnel and it was great to get a hot meal and a cold water to drink.
What Joe observed was the result of the implementation of the IMS (Incident Management System). The IMT (Incident Management Teams) were having meetings soon after 5:00 a.m., with meetings going on with different crews until at least 10:00 p.m. He marveled at their endurance.
The U.S.A.R. people deployed were from all over the country and not familiar with the New Orleans and the Gulf Coast areas. Joe and some of his crew were split up, with one local firefighter assigned to help each U.S.A.R. team. There were 10 U.S.A.R. Teams and each was assigned to a different part of the city. On Saturday they were deployed, going out day after day, every day, following a previously established search and rescue grid system for the area.
By this time, despite all of the activity, little had been accomplished in the first few critical days after Katrina by the U.S.A.R. teams. They were trying to make up for lost time, but for hundreds of people they were too late. Coast Guard helicopters picked up thousands of people from rooftops. The U.S.A.R. teams would have been a great asset early on to assist removing people from attics. Joe recalled they could have used their help.
They had planned to go out Friday, but their missions were called off because of lack of security. The teams were not allowed to initiate any searches until they had accompanying armed security such as National Guardsman or police officers. Joe indicated it was frustrating not being allowed to go out on Friday because of the danger and lack of security.
With security established, Joe said that he hadn’t heard from the guys out in East New Orleans. This crew held up at the Bell South Building during Katrina. The crew in East New Orleans was Joe’s former crew and he had not heard from them. He urged the incident commanders to get one of the U.S.A.R. teams out to meet up with them, as Joe was certain they had probably covered a good portion of East New Orleans already and would be a great asset for the U.S.A.R. teams deployed to that area.
They had arrived at the Saints' facility with about 20 or so other firefighters from other locations. Originally, a truck was going to come for them, and they were to join the rest of the NOFD across the Mississippi River Bridge the next day.
They began to hear that up to 10 billion dollars of supplies