Are you going to work for FEMA? Got an email from them the other day. Our department has been sending volunteers to the Astrodome. Pretty gnarly there. Plenty of decent folk that appreciate the help but also plenty of low-life's making it a difficult situation for all. May be a good time to weed out the undesirables. I'm sure if they met some sort of tragic demise, New Orleans would not miss any of them.
FEMA letter:
Our Nation is faced with the most catastrophic natural disaster in modern times, and we are calling upon the Nation's fire service to aid the affected citizens and communities. This is the United States Fire Administration's second request to mobilize members of the fire service within Federal guidelines.
The current need is for 1,000 two-person teams to serve as FEMA's community relations representatives in response to Hurricane Katrina.
Each department may offer more than one two-person team. These people will be deployed as a team, and we prefer that they know one another prior to deployment.
This request requires volunteer firefighters who are members in good standing in a community based volunteer fire department. The volunteer firefighter will be hired as a FEMA Disaster Assistance Employee with an initial appointment not to exceed 120 days. The rate of pay will be $23.41 per hour regular time and $29.59 overtime. They must be:
- Physically capable of performing manual tasks under severe conditions;
- Able to obtain a favorable suitability determination;
- Experienced in working with minimum supervision;
- Capable of living in austere, severe living conditions with minimal or no creature comforts for a period of at least 30 days;
- Are members in good standing in their department with an established record of recent emergency response and able to perform appropriately in a national response;
- Free of medical condition(s) that would prevent them from working in these conditions for this period of time; and,
- Able to work within the ICS, provide basic first aid, and follow orders.
The work is non-operational community relations focused activities that consist of direct outreach to persons in the affected areas. They will assist victims in understanding how they will go about the process of getting Federal assistance, distributing information, providing minimal first-aid, and taking reports. The work will be outside, exposed to the elements and will require significant walking.
FEMA will notify the Chief of Department, and selected applicants will be notified by their Chief of Department that they have been selected. NO ONE SHOULD DEPLOY WITHOUT NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE FROM FEMA. Selected applicants will report to a central location in the Atlanta, Georgia area for training and further deployment. Travel to the Atlanta, Georgia area will be per government authorization in a manner specified upon acceptance. Acceptance information will also cover lodging and other related expense reimbursement information.
APPLICATION PROCESS
The application process is the exact same process as applying for a National Fire Academy resident course. Applicants will complete FEMA Form 75-5A (short form) general application which can be found at:
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/training/nfa/about/attend/nfa-abt1c.shtm
In box 12a. "Course Code and Title" the applicant should enter "COMMUNITY RELATIONS DEPLOYMENT"and "L282". In Box #21, please fill in the names of BOTH team members. No other course information is required on the application, but everything else must be completed. Additional personnel information will be required upon acceptance. The application must be fully completed and signed by the
