Julie with a B

Friday, September 02, 2005
 
Local help . . .
Help is on the way from local agencies
SR, Bay Area rescue teams trained to find survivors en route to Mississippi
Bob Norberg
Press Democrat

Three Santa Rosa firefighters are in a caravan headed to Biloxi, Miss., where they will join search-and-rescue efforts following Hurricane Katrina, which sent a wall of water almost 30 feet high through the low-lying Gulf Coast region.

"We don't know what to expect," said Charlie Hanley, a 26-year veteran. "We know there are many isolated communities, and some communities that have been destroyed. Other than that, we know it will be a sad and grisly scene."

The firefighters are members of a Federal Emergency Management Administration Urban Search and Rescue Team, headquartered in Oakland, and trained to find survivors in collapsed buildings, under freeways and buried in rubble. They are expected to arrive in Biloxi this afternoon.
. . . .
The Santa Rosa chapter of the American Red Cross, meanwhile, today is sending its Emergency Response Vehicle with two volunteers to distribute food, water and ice to stricken neighborhoods.

The chapter already sent eight volunteers, has another dozen ready to go and in the past three days has trained 77 more.It has raised $25,000 in donations, spokeswoman Ellen Maremount Silver said.

"The situation is incredible, we are receiving a huge influx of interest in donations and volunteers," Silver said.

- posted by JulieB @ 10:10 AM
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