Scenes from Waveland Fire Department

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Loading Up Engine 5
Tour of Waveland
Scenes from Waveland Fire Department
Before And After
Fire Trucks Arrive

After touring the wreckage that used to be the quaint town of Waveland, Assistant Chief Smith pulled up onto a bare concrete slab and announced that we were now parked on all that remained of their Station 1 (pictured at left). At one point we were asking him about the computer equipment they had lost - he responded that they'd had backups of all their data, unfortunately they were kept in his desk and well, they never could find his desk after the storm. Wow.

Considerable progress has been made in the past few months - Waveland's municipal offices have been set up in some new structures down the road, and one of those buildings now houses the fire department's Station 1. The facilities seem reasonably comfortable, however there is no indoor parking for their apparatus.

Station 2 is set up at what used to be their training center. Apparently during the storm, all the firefighters and apparatus were evacuated to this location, since it was further away from the ocean. Unfortunately, the storm surge took everyone by surprise - within just minutes they went from being high and dry, to being knee-deep in rising water and having to quickly come up with Plan B. They sought higher ground next door at the wastewater treatment plant which had a sturdy multi-story structure. Asst. Chief Smith showed us some amazing video that they shot from there which showed the flood waters rise at an alarming rate - and when all was said and done, all we could see was the tops of the fire trucks as they floated around in the parking lot.

The Station 2 firefighters are living in a large tent that has been erected next to the building, as the structure remains uninhabitable. The water line is evident on the walls, and it will surely take a lot of work to get the station back to normal again.

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This slab is all that's left of Station 1 (Photo courtesy of Waveland FD)	This is the view from the old Station 1. Nearly 5 months after the storm, and there is SO much still to do here.	According to Asst. Chief Smith, this road in front of the fire station used to be a nice neighborhood.
These folks are tough as nails. Somehow despite their troubles, they managed to muster up the Christmas spirit!	These are the living quarters at Station 2.	As I was taking pictures, Asst. Chief Smith quipped "Wait, let me unfold our sign so you can see it!"
Looks like this training tower might need a bit of work.	This location was one of the main distribution places for supplies and donations after the storm. Much of it is still piled high inside the bays.	Though some of this equipment may be salvageable, much of it including computers and electronics, engines, etc. were rendered useless by the salty and contaminated floodwaters.
	More than a bit of irony in THIS sign, which was posted prominently on the station wall! Note the handwritten statistics: "Katrina Aug-29-2005 160mph sustained". Yikes.