AZ Fire Dept Suspended from Hurricane Relief

[media]

PHOENIX (AP) -- The Phoenix Fire Department's Urban Search and
Rescue team has been suspended from a federal agency because it
sent armed police officers to protect firefighters during the
recent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.
At issue is a rule in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's
Code of Conduct that prohibits Urban Search and Rescue teams from
having firearms.
Phoenix's team that deployed for Hurricane Katrina relief and
again for Hurricane Rita included four police officers deputized as
U.S. marshals.
The team was credited with plucking more than 400 Hurricane
Katrina survivors from rooftops and freeway overpasses in flooded
sections of New Orleans.
Phoenix officials now are threatening to refuse some of the most
dangerous deployments in the future or possibly even pull out of
the federal agency altogether, unless the rules are changed to
allow teams to bring their own security, even if that means police
with guns.
Assistant Phoenix Fire Chief Bob Khan said his department also
is questioning the federal agency's ability to manage working
conditions, security and communications.
"Our priority has to be the safety of the firefighters we're
sending," Khan said.
Phoenix police were added to the team about a year ago, and
officials say they are essential to protecting firefighters and
FEMA's $1.4 million worth of equipment. Firefighters do not carry
weapons.
"This is crazy," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said Monday. "This
is a rule that was designed before the world changed, pre-9/11. You
can't stand on bureaucracy if we're going to protect and save
lives, and that's what these teams do."
FEMA relies on 28 elite teams like Phoenix's across the country
to perform specialized rescue operations immediately after
terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
After Hurricane Katrina, firefighters faced deployment to areas
plagued by looting and lawlessness. Twice, Phoenix's team was
confronted by law enforcement officers who refused to let them pass
through their communities and told them to "get out or get shot,"
Gordon said.
Phoenix's team was demobilized unexpectedly on Sept. 26 after
members were seen embarking on a helicopter sortie with a loaded
shotgun while assigned to help with the aftermath of Rita.
In a letter to Phoenix Fire Chief Alan Brunacini dated Sept. 29,
FEMA said Phoenix was placed on "non-deployment status"
essentially for including armed police on the team without
approval.
Gordon has sent a letter to FEMA officials requesting that the
Code of Conduct "be changed from an unrealistic `No firearms
allowed' to a common-sense `No firearms allowed except for U.S.
marshals integrated into the USAR team."'

[Sri Lanky]

Man oh man....what is the big deal. Why can't separate entities be allowed to join for a good cause? There are certain things that transcend this bullshit....like human lives!

I am a firefighter and we work in close conjunction with the police. I certainly appreciate it when entering gang or crackhouses. When they aren't there and there is a serious incident(such as someone being shot or stabbed) we enter at our own risk.

I like to charge hard into the center of the room and scream at everyone to assume control because you have to. I always bring in a long jimmy bar just to make the point. If someone mouths off I call them a f-gg-t in front of their little gangbanger buddies. Embarassment works.

One of these times someone is going to get fucked up.

[Q]

FEMA's guidelines on not arming search and rescue crews don't come into effect here, since it was normal cops that were armed, and not the firefighters.

More brilliance from FEMA. Quite possibly the most ineffectual body of government outside of the pentagon and executive branch.

I ran into a shitload of cops from all over the country. Actually ran into a few that I know from Los Angeles. They aren't making a dime over what they normally do, and live in some pretty shitty conditions.

So did we, but that $400 a day sure cushioned my "troubles".