‘Pray for these folks,’ Fort Worth firefighter says as team helps after Hurricane Ida
Just days after arriving in Louisiana to help a state battered by Hurricane Ida, Fort Worth Fire Lt. Brant Frazier had one request on Thursday on how to help.
“The best way to help is to pray for these folks,” Frazier said Thursday in a Zoom news conference from Lafourche Parish. “It’s catastrophic. You can’t put words to it. Every building, boat and vehicle is damaged. It’s humbling to see how much destruction.”
Fort Worth Battalion Chief Bobby Fimbres agreed.
“You expect the worst,” Fimbres said Thursday. “You would expect high water damage, but this was mostly a wind damage event.”
Fimbres and Frazier took several minutes Thursday morning to talk to reporters in the news conference about the aftermath of Hurricane Ida and their work along with a group of other Fort Worth and North Texas firefighters in the south Louisiana area.
The group is part of Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System, which is maintained by the Texas A&M Forest Service to make statewide use of local resources in emergencies or disasters.
Thousands of Louisianans were still trying on Thursday to restore their lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida with no electricity, no tap water and little gasoline.
Long lines that wrapped around the block formed at the few gas stations that had fuel and generator power to pump it, according to the Associated Press. People cleared rotting food out of refrigerators. Neighbors shared generators and borrowed buckets of swimming pool water to bathe or to flush toilets.
The Fort Worth and North Texas firefighters from departments which included Lewisville, Waxahachie, Sanger and Parker County are in Lafourche Parish, just southwest of New Orleans. The parish has just under 100,000 people.
More than 1 million homes and businesses in Louisiana and Mississippi — including all of New Orleans — were left without power when Ida slammed the electric grind on Sunday.
In the Lafourche Parish area, Frazier said, during the hurricane the residents who stayed had to deal with sustained winds of 100 mph for at least 10 to 12 hours with some gusts of 170 mph.
“They were in fear for their lives,” Frazier said. “They could do nothing.”
The number of deaths climbed to at least four in Louisiana and Mississippi, including two people killed Monday night when seven vehicles plunged into a 20-foot-deep hole near Lucedale, Mississippi, the AP reported.
It took the TIFMAS Strike Team 121 from North Texas eight hours to arrive in south Louisiana earlier this week, bringing with them 30 fire engines to help cover 911 calls.
In addition, the North Texas team is there to note resources and infrastructure needed in the area.
“It could be months before they have running water,” Frazier said. “There’s also no power here. Every power pole is broken or down on the ground.”
During the Thursday Zoom interview, the Fort Worth firefighters noted that there was light in the room, but that was because it was being powered by a generator, and fuel is in short supply in south Louisiana.
Fimbres said some generators in the area also are posing carbon monoxide problems.
“There are natural gas leaks everywhere,” Frazier said. “They haven’t been able to turn them off.”
The Fort Worth and North Texas firefighters are deployed for 14 days, but there’s a chance they could be asked to stay for an additional seven days.
When they return, the North Texas area would send another team if needed in Louisiana.
“It’s never a great time to leave home,” Fimbres said. “It helps to call home, and that makes it easier being here.”
This report contains information from the Associated Press.
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 1:59 PM.
