bigkavr
Well-known member
Folks,
Here's a short story I sent to friends in the swiftwater rescue world.
I doubt they will appreciate how I wrote the article but I bet everyone here will... BTW Never, ever follow Sniper across a railyard. Err, umm, oops, wait a minute, he was following me... Damn, there goes my scape goat.... Take care Sniper.
Katrina
How does one describe the apocalypse? I don’t know if anyone can. But I saw the closest thing imaginable in my mind!!
The feeling of foreboding and emptiness is very, very strong and at times, almost overpowering. Here I am in the middle of one of the greatest cities in
America, and yet, I’m in the middle of nowhere.
Imagine driving (in convoy) on Interstate 10 in New Orleans, mid morning,
and NO traffic. Nothing. No trucks, no cars, no busses, no motorcycles. Just you and your little convoy. After the visual shock sets in, then the olfactory shock really reared its ugly head. And wow, what a shock. Nobody had blocked up sinuses while being deployed. All the chemical and biological odors made sure of that!!
Our airboat rescue group was tasked with Louisiana Fish and Wildlife officials who were doing the hospital rescues downtown. We arrived at their
staging area early Thursday morning and convoyed with them downtown to begin evacuation of the first hospital. We came off I-10 and passed within three blocks of the superdome where all the trouble was happening. After driving through water about a foot deep and for about 8 blocks, we arrived at our launch area. This launch area was directly in front of City Hall, on a boulevard and had a dry area for the trucks. We unloaded the airboats and with an armed LFW agent on each airboat, we proceeded for the next two days to help evac three hospitals, one law enforcement center and two apartment buildings. Through all this, I had a few “insights� as to urban rescue operations while using an airboat that I thought you’d appreciate.
First learning curve. Where are the frickin’ fire hydrants? I think I found every one of them the hard way. Sure glad my hull was built for severe ice rescue work or I’d still be sitting down there in the vile water with a breached hull. I swear, those hydrants have legs!! And they use them!!
Second learning curve. DO NOT, and I mean, DO NOT under any circumstances get under one of the army’s twin rotor helos while their hovering. Twice, while I was loaded with evacs, a twin rotor came over me and STOPED!! Arrg!!! (remember, we’ve got multi story buildings on either side of us) I know they couldn’t see us, but as they were just above the buildings, their prop wash had nowhere to go but between the buildings. Believe me, it’s just like a mini hurricane complete with 2 foot waves and winds strong enough to slam the airboat into buildings (which it did). Both times, my passengers (and myself) were drenched to the bone with the most god awful water imaginable. There is just NO way to describe how bad the water was…. I had warned my guard on the second day (he was new) about being careful to watch out for the “evil twin rotors�, but it was apparent that he thought I was either paranoid or really a “scaredy cat�. Well, after the second rotor-wash blasting, (his first) my guard saw the light and realized
just how dangerous it was under one of those behemoths. For the rest of that day, he jumped at the sight of ANY helo getting anywhere near us. Good boy!
Third learning curve. If it looks like a piece of plywood floating just beneath the surface, it may be in reality, a fully loaded dumpster!! (remember, in places, the water’s surface was completely covered with debris and only the airboats could safely and quickly traverse said areas without any ill side effects) Luckily, I was only going at an idle when I encountered said “plywood� and the airboat coming to an abrupt stop was not as dramatic as it would have been had I been up on plane…. Only thing damaged was a little polymer on the hull and my pride… Bested by a dumpster! How will I ever live that down……
Fourth learning curve. While traversing across a flooded rail yard (this was on our last day deployed, Sunday) never ever think you know where all the switches are based on how the train cars are parked. Even though the water was anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet deep, two damn switches still jumped up and hit my airboat. I get NO respect!! All day, I was telling my two guards to sit more and stand less while the airboat was in motion. Funny, after bouncing off the first switch, their derriere’s were glued to the seats!! I swear I heard suction sounds if they moved…. Going through the rail yard and traversing across a 6 foot tall, 16 foot wide, dry levy was involved so we could gain access to another part of town that needed to be searched.
Very frustrating when after all the travel to get on site, very few want to leave!! Oh well, such is life…..
Fifth learning curve. Coast Guard helos have no idea what their down-wash does to boats!! And apparently, they like to watch close and personal like, while airboats do rescues too. While picking up a grandmother and her grandson from the front of a house, the CG came in and hovered directly above us just as grandma sat down. Poor granny, her eyes were as big as saucers as the down-wash wrapped us around and into the tree. I think I can find the house again because of all the red paint from my airboat that I left on the big tree in front of the house!!
All in all, we did a damn good job. I was told that in four days time, the final rescue count was aprox. 400 from one hospital, 200 from another, 75 from a third, 200 from the CCC building (sheriff’s) and about 100 from various apt. buildings. This was done with 8 private airboats, 2 Texas Fish and Wildlife airboats and about 40+ Louisiana and Texas Fish and Wildlife agents.
With all the serious incident reports floating around, I thought a little humor was in order. Thus, the above account. All is true, and I’m damn proud to have been a part of, and to witness, all the fantastic rescue teams that were deployed into downtown New Orleans. To all that are still deployed, take care and be safe.
Brian Edwards
Sandusky County SAR
Fremont, OH :twisted: :twisted:
Here's a short story I sent to friends in the swiftwater rescue world.
I doubt they will appreciate how I wrote the article but I bet everyone here will... BTW Never, ever follow Sniper across a railyard. Err, umm, oops, wait a minute, he was following me... Damn, there goes my scape goat.... Take care Sniper.
Katrina
How does one describe the apocalypse? I don’t know if anyone can. But I saw the closest thing imaginable in my mind!!
The feeling of foreboding and emptiness is very, very strong and at times, almost overpowering. Here I am in the middle of one of the greatest cities in
America, and yet, I’m in the middle of nowhere.
Imagine driving (in convoy) on Interstate 10 in New Orleans, mid morning,
and NO traffic. Nothing. No trucks, no cars, no busses, no motorcycles. Just you and your little convoy. After the visual shock sets in, then the olfactory shock really reared its ugly head. And wow, what a shock. Nobody had blocked up sinuses while being deployed. All the chemical and biological odors made sure of that!!
Our airboat rescue group was tasked with Louisiana Fish and Wildlife officials who were doing the hospital rescues downtown. We arrived at their
staging area early Thursday morning and convoyed with them downtown to begin evacuation of the first hospital. We came off I-10 and passed within three blocks of the superdome where all the trouble was happening. After driving through water about a foot deep and for about 8 blocks, we arrived at our launch area. This launch area was directly in front of City Hall, on a boulevard and had a dry area for the trucks. We unloaded the airboats and with an armed LFW agent on each airboat, we proceeded for the next two days to help evac three hospitals, one law enforcement center and two apartment buildings. Through all this, I had a few “insights� as to urban rescue operations while using an airboat that I thought you’d appreciate.
First learning curve. Where are the frickin’ fire hydrants? I think I found every one of them the hard way. Sure glad my hull was built for severe ice rescue work or I’d still be sitting down there in the vile water with a breached hull. I swear, those hydrants have legs!! And they use them!!
Second learning curve. DO NOT, and I mean, DO NOT under any circumstances get under one of the army’s twin rotor helos while their hovering. Twice, while I was loaded with evacs, a twin rotor came over me and STOPED!! Arrg!!! (remember, we’ve got multi story buildings on either side of us) I know they couldn’t see us, but as they were just above the buildings, their prop wash had nowhere to go but between the buildings. Believe me, it’s just like a mini hurricane complete with 2 foot waves and winds strong enough to slam the airboat into buildings (which it did). Both times, my passengers (and myself) were drenched to the bone with the most god awful water imaginable. There is just NO way to describe how bad the water was…. I had warned my guard on the second day (he was new) about being careful to watch out for the “evil twin rotors�, but it was apparent that he thought I was either paranoid or really a “scaredy cat�. Well, after the second rotor-wash blasting, (his first) my guard saw the light and realized
just how dangerous it was under one of those behemoths. For the rest of that day, he jumped at the sight of ANY helo getting anywhere near us. Good boy!
Third learning curve. If it looks like a piece of plywood floating just beneath the surface, it may be in reality, a fully loaded dumpster!! (remember, in places, the water’s surface was completely covered with debris and only the airboats could safely and quickly traverse said areas without any ill side effects) Luckily, I was only going at an idle when I encountered said “plywood� and the airboat coming to an abrupt stop was not as dramatic as it would have been had I been up on plane…. Only thing damaged was a little polymer on the hull and my pride… Bested by a dumpster! How will I ever live that down……
Fourth learning curve. While traversing across a flooded rail yard (this was on our last day deployed, Sunday) never ever think you know where all the switches are based on how the train cars are parked. Even though the water was anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet deep, two damn switches still jumped up and hit my airboat. I get NO respect!! All day, I was telling my two guards to sit more and stand less while the airboat was in motion. Funny, after bouncing off the first switch, their derriere’s were glued to the seats!! I swear I heard suction sounds if they moved…. Going through the rail yard and traversing across a 6 foot tall, 16 foot wide, dry levy was involved so we could gain access to another part of town that needed to be searched.
Very frustrating when after all the travel to get on site, very few want to leave!! Oh well, such is life…..
Fifth learning curve. Coast Guard helos have no idea what their down-wash does to boats!! And apparently, they like to watch close and personal like, while airboats do rescues too. While picking up a grandmother and her grandson from the front of a house, the CG came in and hovered directly above us just as grandma sat down. Poor granny, her eyes were as big as saucers as the down-wash wrapped us around and into the tree. I think I can find the house again because of all the red paint from my airboat that I left on the big tree in front of the house!!
All in all, we did a damn good job. I was told that in four days time, the final rescue count was aprox. 400 from one hospital, 200 from another, 75 from a third, 200 from the CCC building (sheriff’s) and about 100 from various apt. buildings. This was done with 8 private airboats, 2 Texas Fish and Wildlife airboats and about 40+ Louisiana and Texas Fish and Wildlife agents.
With all the serious incident reports floating around, I thought a little humor was in order. Thus, the above account. All is true, and I’m damn proud to have been a part of, and to witness, all the fantastic rescue teams that were deployed into downtown New Orleans. To all that are still deployed, take care and be safe.
Brian Edwards
Sandusky County SAR
Fremont, OH :twisted: :twisted:
