FD Rant News - October 2016
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
FD
Rant
News
Provides
Relief
Story and Photos by Jeff DiLavore and Brian Welliver
From August 11th through August 14th of this year a weather
event in southeast Louisiana caused some of the most devastating
flooding in our nation’s history; rains started on August 11th and
continued for several days. Rainfall rates that reached 2-3 inches
PER HOUR were recorded with total rainfall reaching as high as
24+ inches of rain in just over 48 hours. During the onslaught,
and with flood waters rising at an alarming rate, all across Southern Louisiana members of emergency services were involved with
rescuing thousands of people. To put this into perspective, the
area that was hit the hardest was Ascension Parish which is roughly 325 square miles compared to Nassau County at 453 square
miles. The total impacted area was much larger, and estimates
have been made that as many as 146,000 homes were damaged
as a result of this event with 13 deaths reported.
In the days and weeks that followed there was very little media
coverage of this catastrophic event outside of the affected area.
After being contacted by an old friend, a former Long Islander
who now lives in New Orleans, about the situation there, Brian
Welliver and I decided we wanted to see what we could do to
help out. We were put in contact with members of the St. Amant
[pronounced “Sanna-Mont”] Fire Department in Ascension Parish, which is located approximately 40 miles southeast of Baton
Rouge. We asked them what we could possibly offer to them in
order to aid in their recovery efforts; they informed us that their
department had lost all its turnout gear and EMS supplies and
three of their fire stations were a total loss. Luckily, all of the fire
apparatus was able to be relocated several miles away before the
flood waters came so they were not damaged.
Brian and I put out a call to action for assistance through social
media and we were quickly offered gear and supplies from departments we both had connections with who were willing to help
out. Without hesitation, East Northport Fire Department dropped
off roughly 18 full sets of turnout gear and another 20 pairs of
boots. Kings Park Fire District authorized the donation of EMS
supplies and surplus EMS equipment, and East Farmingdale Fire
Company pitched in with another 5 sets of turnout gear, boots
and other assorted equipment. We started our journey down
south just after midnight on August 25th after receiving 40 cases of bottled water courtesy of the NYC/LI American Patriot III%
group. We can’t thank you all enough for your contributions.
The trip down took 22½ hours. When we arrived in St. Amant
we were welcomed with open arms. During our stay for the next
36 hours we couldn’t have been treated any better. Despite the
utter devastation these folks encountered in the previous two
weeks, their “Southern Hospitality’ was overwhelming. We toured
the area with our new friends Captain Shane Rojas and Firefighter Meyron “Bear” Guidry [who opened his home to us while we
were there] and we even took in a natural gas leak run with them
too. Chief James LeBlanc, who has led the fire department for the
last 28 years, met with us at St. Amant’s main firehouse and gave
us a tour after we finished unpacking all of the equipment. The
building was essentially destroyed by the flood waters which were
around 5 feet. Chief LeBlanc’s leadership and strength during
this ordeal was praised my every member we spoke to and even
some of the residents who have known him for years.
The number one thing we learned from this trip was that people
in Ascension Parish, Louisiana have great pride in everything they
do. These folks are hardworking, resilient, caring, and friendly. If
we had to do this all over again, we wouldn’t hesitate for a second
to make the trip. Brian and I are hoping we can get back down
there when times are better to take in an LSU Tigers game and
grab some more “Mr. Ronnie’s Donuts” with the friends we made
on this trip. Stay strong, and God Bless everyone while you continue on the road to recovery.
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