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Armed thugs keep rescuers from their mission
So who runs Bartertown these days?With seven rescue boats at his disposal and thousands of New Orleans residents in need of saving, lifelong fireman Patrick Hemphill stood by the floodwaters' edge yesterday and gave a command that went against all his years of training. Stand down. Citizens were in danger, yet he had to tell his people to pull back. "We've been ordered by the higher-ups not to go into the city of New Orleans," said Hemphill, the fire chief of Ouachita Parish, a county in northern Louisiana. "We've been advised it's not safe." "They're shooting at my people," said Mario Scramuzza, an emergency medical technician from nearby East Jefferson General Hospital, who was helping to coordinate medical care along with Hemphill. Scramuzza said the biggest problem were gun-toting men who tried to hijack the rescue boats. "We've got priorities of people who need to get out first, women, children and elderly. If you don't stop for them, they shoot at you," Scramuzza said. The problem was widespread in New Orleans. A rescue helicopter trying to airlift people out of the Superdome was fired on. A force of 88 police officers sent to restore calm to the area around the New Orleans Convention Center had to retreat in the face of violence. Workers at one hospital ducked gunfire as they tried to evacuate patients. A National Guardsman was shot in the leg as he fended off an attacker who tried to steal his gun. For people like Scramuzza and Hemphill -- men whose lives are dedicated to helping others -- it made an already difficult task that much more frustrating. "There are still a lot of people out there who don't need to spend anymore time where they are," Hemphill said. "We're trying to do what we can, but we have our hands tied a little bit." So they did the best they could. Hemphill is overseeing one of the many rescue boat operations here, launching crafts from Route 61 in Jefferson Parish, at the spot where the road lowers to meet the floodwaters. He and his fellow firemen from Ouachita Parish got there Wednesday morning and were able to operate safely, albeit with some difficulty. "It's not easy," Hemphill said. "There are a lot of shallow places where they have to get out and drag the boats. There's things floating in the water. There are submerged objects." When the bullets started flying, it got to be too much. They were still sending boats yesterday off Route 61, but only to the more immediate areas of Jefferson Parish. And they were under orders to take extreme precaution. Each boat went out with an armed guard wearing bulletproof armor and carrying high-powered weapons. When a boat returned -- usually full -- each passenger was searched for weapons. That became standard procedure at evacuation points after there was a shooting outside the Superdome on Wednesday. "We're patting down every person that comes up here and we're checking every bag," Scramuzza said. It has put them in the strange position of being both rescuers and policemen. "We wish we could do more, but we're doing the best we can," Hemphill said. "This isn't how we wanted this to happen." Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-09-02 |
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