STATE FARM'S HEAD ON A PLATTER
What Gulf Coast Congressman Gene Taylor wanted the Easter Bunny to bring him.
South Mississippi Living 4/07
Showing posts with label fema trailers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fema trailers. Show all posts

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Man burned in FEMA trailer fire

Neighbors said they heard an explosion

Posted on Sun, Jul. 29, 2007
By MICHAEL NEWSOM
mmnewsom@sunherald.com

BILOXI -- A FEMA trailer fire on Motsie Road Saturday caused one heavily burned man to be airlifted to Mobile after the blaze, which destroyed the home.

The fire at the trailer park happened about 8 p.m. after neighbors reported hearing an explosion, said Biloxi's Deputy Fire Chief Kirk Noffsinger. He said one man was severely burned and sent to Mobile, while another suffered illness related to smoke inhalation.

The fire burned very quickly, which is typical of FEMA trailers, Noffsinger said.

"They are a concern," he said. "We're hoping that soon most of these people will get out and be back in their regular residence."
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
He said the fire was intense, and it threatened two other trailers and also one vehicle, but firefighters were able to contain the flames.

He said Saturday it was hard to tell if there actually was an explosion there, and the cause of the fire was unknown. The case is still under investigation.

Original article printed in Sun Herald.

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Sunday, July 22, 2007

Fake Emergency Management . . . Again

 Fake Emergency Management . . . Again
Rows of trailers for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina line the Renaissance Village trailer park in Baker, La. Trailers like these have been found to contain high levels of formaldehyde.

(By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)


by Ana Maria

Bush's FEMA, the agency responsible for handling disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, has itself been disastrous. As catastrophic as Katrina’s damage has been for everyone from New Orleans through the Mississippi Gulf Coast to Alabama, nothing—and I mean nothing—comes close to the catastrophe that Bush’s FEMA embodies in terms of its deliberate neglect, callous disregard, and compassionless actions toward those whom Katrina impacted.

After being publicly castigated for deliberately ignoring reports regarding the enormous toxic levels of formaldehyde inside the trailers that house Katrina’s survivors, the Bush Administration’s latest chief FEMA buffoon has announced that the agency would—finally—begin testing the trailers.

The agency’s own on-the-ground reports had long ago informed FEMA’s upper management that the trailers were causing significant health problems. In fact, the agency’s attorneys have known since early 2006 that these sardine can sized trailers were toxic to the degree of being 75 times the healthy level. From the onset, on-the-ground FEMA employees pushed for testing. So, what directive came down from one of the attorneys with Bush’s FEMA?

"Do not initiate any testing until we give the OK. . . . Once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them."

This FEMA attorney apparently missed the part of law school that would have informed him that being told of the problem automatically put him on notice. At that point, he should have acted. Period. It’s like trying to put toothpaste back into the tube. It’s doesn’t work. You cannot un-ring the bell, bucko.

The “reasonable man theory” might apply to the situation. What would a reasonable man or woman do under these circumstances? Now, the word to focus on is reasonable as most of us would agree upon its meaning.

A reasonable individual could conclude the following.

  1. The trailers may be posing health risks to the families living in them.
  2. FEMA’s responsible for protecting the health and welfare of these families.
  3. FEMA should quickly provide appropriate and rigorous tests to determine the extent to which formaldehyde levels exist in the trailers.
  4. Once the tests confirmed the toxic levels of formaldehyde, FEMA must immediately determine the remedy for the situation including providing alternative housing that would be safe and healthy.

So what would a reasonable man or woman do as a result of these conclusions? Test the trailers with the best testing equipment and personnel available. After all, the health and safety of those living in the trailers is paramount.

Instead, FEMA’s upper management told its on-the-ground employees to turn a blind eye to the unnecessary suffering of these families living in the formaldehyde-filled trailers within the Katrina-ravaged region.

The Washington Post reported

A trail of e-mails obtained by investigators shows that the agency's lawyers rejected a proposal for systematic testing of the levels of potentially cancer-causing formaldehyde gas in the trailers, out of concern that the agency would be legally liable for any hazards or health problems. As many as 120,000 families displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita lived in the suspect trailers, and hundreds have complained of ill effects.

How utterly irresponsible, compassionless, vile and contemptible Bush’s FEMA continues to be.

FEMA Resentfully Relents
Only after being verbally lashed at a very public congressional hearing last Thursday did FEMA’s leadership announce it had capitulated to the demands that it live up to its responsibilities. This, too, appears to be a continuation of the administration’s PR scam.

From the new flyer it is providing the residents living in the formaldehyde-filled trailers to the false and misleading information on its website, FEMA exhibits a vile contempt for us, the American people.

With great interest did I read FEMA’s new flyer. In keeping with the deceptive PR practices so prevalent with the Bush crew, this flyer is exceedingly misleading. First they try to pretend that formaldehyde is as common as oxygen and then to blame on dust, mold, or smoke the symptoms toxic levels of formaldehyde can produce.

Formaldehyde is a common indoor air pollutant that can be found in nearly all homes and buildings.

“. . . your symptoms could be from indoor pollutants that may include formaldehyde or other indoor pollutants, such as dust, mold or smoke.

If the Bush Administration were serious about rectifying this situation, if it were serious about accurately educating the American public about the potentially hazardous nature of the government-provided housing, then it would provide clear and convincing language to instruct these residents to seek medical treatment immediately.

But, the Bushies are not serious about anything other than lining their own pockets and, with government sweet heart deals, the pockets of their big wig friends.

Abroad, the Bush Administration hands out multi-billion dollar, no bid contracts to companies like Cheney’s Halliburton. Here at home, Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) exposed the Katrina fraud involving Bush supporter Riley Bechtel who received “$16,000 to haul a trailer the last 70 miles from Purvis, Miss., down to the Gulf Coast, hook it up to a garden hose, hook it up to a sewer tap, and plug it in. $16,000.”

Who this administration hurts with its price gouging, deceptive practices, and elimination of our governmental infrastructure is irrelevant to them. The Bushies cloak themselves in Old Glory and hide behind language central to the Christian faith as they fake being men and women who receive special delivery messages from heaven. Oh, I’m sure they get messages. However, I’m equally certain that they have grossly misinterpreted those messages.

Yep, the Bushies fake a lot of things like patriotism and religiosity. Now, the Bush Administration is faking any appearance of a serious mea culpa on the part of FEMA’s deliberate – what was that phrase the Democratic Congressional Committee Chair used? Ahhh, yes! Chairman Waxman termed it “premeditated ignorance.”

FEMA’s Website: A Portal of False and Misleading Information
FEMA’s website is riddled with false, inaccurate, and deceptive language with regard to formaldehyde-filled FEMA trailers. As a result, the information on FEMA’s website misleads the American public. Let’s look at three examples which highlight FEMA Director Paulison’s failure to ensure that all deceptive pieces of information regarding his agency’s formaldehyde-filled trailers were taken down.

Example 1
On FEMA’s homepage under “FEMA Continues To Address Formaldehyde Concerns” the following sentence remains.

Although tests of air samples from travel trailers in the Gulf Coast have demonstrated that ventilating the units is effective in reducing levels of formaldehyde.

Of course, FEMA fails to tell the WHOLE truth of their pitiful previous “air samples”. Last week, TIME Magazine reported on the pitifully pathetic way that the Bush folks conducted its “tests.”

Trailers were left with windows ajar, air conditioning on and all vents open for days before interior air levels were tested for the gas — conditions that did not nearly approximate actual living conditions.

Example 2
On FEMA’s website, Paulison has left intact deviously misleading information on the health hazards of formaldehyde as well as its remedy. In its set of frequently asked questions (FAQ) titled FEMA Actions to Minimize Formaldehyde in Travel Trailers, FEMA’s questions #2 and #3 are of particular note.

2. I thought FEMA had already done a travel trailer study.

Yes. Last summer the Environmental Protection Agency and the Agency for Toxic Substances and the CDC’s Disease Registry testing of air samples from travel trailers. That study showed that ventilating the units is effective in reducing levels of formaldehyde. However, FEMA believes additional research is needed to address
concerns about the health effects of living in travel trailers for prolonged periods of time. [Emphasis added.]

What?! The so-called study was no study at all, and the conclusions based on it are ready for prime time amateur hour! The fact of the matter is that the Clarion-Ledger, the daily paper in Jackson, Miss., which is the capitol of the state, reported "Becky Gillette, vice chairwoman of the Mississippi chapter of the Sierra Club, said testing of some FEMA trailers and mobile homes showed elevated levels of formaldehyde, even in those that have been aired out for months.” [Emphasis added.]

The answer to FEMA’s question #3 blames the residents for creating the toxic formaldehyde levels that are 75 times the healthy level.

3. What will the new study do?

The study will involve testing actual air quality conditions in travel trailers when they are used for longer periods of time under real-life conditions. In the study conducted last, the testing was done in new, unoccupied trailers so that we could determine formaldehyde levels in the units themselves, excluding any changes related to activities by the occupants, such as smoking.

Smoking causes formaldehyde to jump to 75 times the healthy level? Again, Bush’s FEMA folks are prime time for amateur hour. Get them off the government payroll!

Example 3
On FEMA’s website is a piece titled Statement On Travel Trailers and Formaldehyde. In it, Bush’s agency retains more reality-free material through which to mislead the American public seeking factually-based information.

Our investigation of formaldehyde and travel trailers indicates that ventilating the units can significantly reduce levels of formaldehyde emissions.

The Sierra Club’s testing disputes the Bush Administration’s assertion.

Once again, Bush’s government betrays our trust and jeopardizes our health and welfare. So what can we do about this situation?

Today’s Political Hell Raising Activity has us contact FEMA Director Paulison’s office to demand the removal of all the false and misleading information regarding the agency’s formaldehyde-filled trailers. Let’s bombard his office with calls so much so that we interrupt their routine.

That is our point. To interrupt their routine of deception, deviousness, and callous disregard for the health and safety of the families living in the FEMA trailers.

Our point is to call the director's office and tell the FEMA staff member at the other end of the call that we want the government website that our tax dollars pay for to be based upon reality and not someone’s fantasy.

While FEMA’s upper management is faking emergency management . . . again, we can demonstrate that we’re fully engaged citizens who will take out 3-5 minutes to live up to our end of the democratic bargain that is the great American experiment in representative democracy. Nothing fake about that. All very real.

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FEMA to test for chemicals in trailers

Posted on Sat, Jul. 21, 2007
FROM STAFF & WIRE REPORTS

The day after a House oversight committee discovered that FEMA had sloughed off reports that trailers provided to Katrina evacuees had dangerous levels of toxic chemicals, FEMA's chief said testing of trailers would begin Tuesday.

Evacuees have long speculated their health troubles were made worse by formaldehyde in the trailers, a notion bolstered this week with congressional testimony that FEMA knew about the threat but didn't investigate it. Hurricane victims living in government trailers on the Coast have said for nearly two years that they're getting sick from the trailers, but couldn't persuade FEMA to do any tests.

In a statement late Friday, FEMA administrator R. David Paulison said the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Health Affairs will conduct a preliminary field study that will test air quality conditions in "FEMA-purchased housing units under real-life conditions."

Paulison said testing would begin Tuesday.

"We are also looking into engineering solutions that may be available effectively to remove environmental pollutants from the trailers," he said.

In addition, he said FEMA would begin distributing a fact sheet today on formaldehyde and housing to the occupants of each FEMA travel trailer and mobile home in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas.

"This fact sheet will provide basic information about formaldehyde, its possible medical effects and contacts for further assistance," he said.

The new brochure also is available online at sunherald.com.

Also today, FEMA will open a toll-free telephone line with operators from the CDC and FEMA available to answer questions about the formaldehyde issue and associated FEMA housing concerns, he said. The toll-free number is 1-866-562-2381.

FEMA provided more than 120,000 trailers to people displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Thousands of people still live in them, mostly in Mississippi and Louisiana.

On Thursday, documents released to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee showed FEMA lawyers discouraged the agency from pursuing reports the trailers had dangerous levels of formaldehyde, a chemical that can cause respiratory problems.

The formaldehyde complaints had sparked lawsuits before the congressional hearing, and more are likely.

In May, the Mississippi chapter of the Sierra Club issued a nonscientific report saying its tests revealed high formaldehyde emissions in dozens of trailers in Mississippi and Louisiana.
FEMA's response to questions from the Sun Herald at the time of the Sierra Club testing fly in the face of facts revealed in Thursday's congressional hearing.

The Sun Herald originally published the story on July 21, 2007.

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Saturday, July 21, 2007

FEMA trailers: Why was action so tardy?




July 20, 2007

Is the federal government only now getting the message that FEMA trailers might be hazardous to health?

For nearly a year, clarionledger.com StoryChat posters discussed the issue under the topic "Are FEMA trailers 'toxic tin cans?'" until the subject petered out.

It was based on a news report of the same title that ran on MSNBC (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14011193/) in July 2006 and was mentioned in editorials since then about Katrina recovery in The Clarion-Ledger.

It has been no secret, for sure.

Yet, now, suddenly, it seems, the federal government is starting to pay attention - and pass the buck.

Fourth District U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor in February asked the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta for a "detailed investigation" into whether formaldehyde in trailers was causing an outbreak of respiratory illnesses.

While acknowledging high enough levels of formaldehyde "to cause irritation to eyes, nose and/or throat," CDC and FEMA suggested the effects can be avoided simply by airing out the trailers.

That's not much reassurance for the 65,900 Hurricane Katrina victims still housed in about 24,400 of the trailers in Mississippi - nor, perhaps, should it be to the Native American tribes Congress has authorized the units to be shipped to as cheap housing for reservations.

Congress should investigate for certain if the homes are "toxic tin cans" and how it came to be - and punish those responsible, including repaying taxpayers. Safety of citizens should come first.

Read original at Clarion Ledger.

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Toxic trailers affecting health, well-being


SUSAN WALSH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FEMA Administrator David Paulison, center, listens as former FEMA trailer occupant Paul Stewart, left, testifies before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on his health problems while living in a FEMA trailer after Hurricane Katrina. Lindsay Huckabee, who also lives in a FEMA trailer, is at right.

By BRANDON PARKER and MICHAEL A. BELL
SUN HERALD


At work and at home, Kathy James and Patricia Spain said they are constantly breathing in formaldehyde.

The women work for the Department of Human Services, where temporary trailers were erected after Hurricane Katrina damaged the facility. The women also live in FEMA trailers.

When they leave for work in the mornings, the one thing they can't forget is to open the windows.

"If not, if closed up during the summer, oh, gosh, you open that doors, it's like 'whew - that chemical smell'," said James, a 47-year-old Pass Christian resident.

"It's like when you can't breathe through your nose," she said of some of the symptoms she experiences. "Just a sore throat feeling... . like you have a sinus infection."

The problems began as soon as James moved into her trailer in December 2005. Two months earlier, Spain, 56, moved into her FEMA trailer and experienced similar symptoms.

"I do have sinus infections," she said, adding she constantly is fatigued and is unable to complete simple tasks. Asked to elaborate on how it affects her personally, she said she becomes depressed. "I just stay that way," she said.

"I know... this won't last forever," Spain said. "But that's not the way that I feel."

In Washington on Thursday, the House subcommittee on Oversight and Government Reform heard tales like these that supported their findings that FEMA lawyers discouraged investigations of high formaldehyde levels in Coast FEMA trailers.
Subcommittee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., called the situation "sickening."

Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said he sent a letter Feb. 22 to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when he heard about the formaldehyde complaints. After not receiving a response until the end of May, Taylor said he knew the FEMA trailer program was in deep trouble.

"FEMA's trailer program has been so horribly mismanaged, I feel inadequate in finding the words to describe it," he said Thursday. "We've tried to work with them in every instance and show them better and more efficient ways to do things, but they have just ignored our efforts.

"This is just another example of a really inept response to the nation's worst natural disaster," he continued. "As someone who represents southern Mississippi, we are still grateful for trailers that were paid for and provided. But we also know the value of a dollar, so we wanted to see things done in [an] efficient and fair manner."

Asked how lawmakers can get FEMA to admit responsibility, Taylor said, "the only way they'll admit the mistake is if you embarrass them."

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., has grown accustomed to the post-Katrina woes of the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"If the allegations are true, it unfortunately wouldn't be too surprising to South Mississippians, who've had firsthand experience with FEMA since Katrina," said Lee Youngblood, a spokesman for Lott.

"Sen. Lott still believes in many respects (that FEMA) remains a big, out-of-control federal bureaucracy with too much red tape and not enough people willing to take responsibility."

Waxman echoed Lott's demand that those responsible be held accountable.
He said the committee's documents revealed "mistakes and misjudgments."

"We need to learn from them to identify what needs to be fixed to protect the health of the thousands of families still living in FEMA trailers," he said. "And we should do everything we can to make sure that this disgraceful conduct never happens again."

Original post at Sun Herald.

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Thursday, July 19, 2007

FEMA Knew Of Toxic Gas In Trailers

Hurricane Victims Reported Illnesses

Rows of trailers for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina line the Renaissance Village trailer park in Baker, La. Trailers like these have been found to contain high levels of formaldehyde. (By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)
FEMA Suppressed Health Warnings

Agency may have rejected testing on hazardous formaldehyde levels in Katrina trailers. (Getty)
FEMA Administrator's Statement (PDF)
Congressional Memo (PDF)




Federal Emergency Management Agency since early 2006 has suppressed warnings from its own field workers about health problems experienced by hurricane victims living in government-provided trailers with levels of a toxic chemical 75 times the recommended maximum for U.S. workers, congressional lawmakers said yesterday.

A trail of e-mails obtained by investigators shows that the agency's lawyers rejected a proposal for systematic testing of the levels of potentially cancer-causing formaldehyde gas in the trailers, out of concern that the agency would be legally liable for any hazards or health problems. As many as 120,000 families displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita lived in the suspect trailers, and hundreds have complained of ill effects.

On June 16, 2006, three months after reports of the hazards surfaced and a month after a trailer resident sued the agency, a FEMA logistics expert wrote that the agency's Office of General Counsel "has advised that we do not do testing, which would imply FEMA's ownership of this issue." A FEMA lawyer, Patrick Preston, wrote on June 15: "Do not initiate any testing until we give the OK. . . . Once you get results and should they indicate some problem, the clock is running on our duty to respond to them."

FEMA tested no occupied trailers after March 2006, when it initially discovered formaldehyde levels at 75 times the U.S.-recommended workplace safety threshold and relocated a south Mississippi couple expecting their second child, the documents indicate. Formaldehyde, a common wood preservative used in construction materials such as particle board, can cause vision and respiratory problems; long-term exposure has been linked to cancer and higher rates of asthma, bronchitis and allergies in children.


Read the Washington Post story . . .


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