[StBernard] FEMA sending additional money for fire stations in St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes

[Westley Annis]

FEMA sending additional money for fire stations in St. Bernard and
Plaquemines parishes
By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune 
March 11, 2010, 3:58PM
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has announced an additional $10.9
million in federal aid for three south Louisiana fire stations destroyed
during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Fire stations in Chalmette, Port Sulphur and Boothville-Venice will receive
the additional money, FEMA said in a news release Thursday.

Most of the money went to Plaquemines Parish, with $5.1 million allocated to
the Boothville-Venice Firehouse and $4.7 million to its Port Sulphur Fire
Station, FEMA said. The two stations are scheduled to be completed in April.


"We're real happy with the swift response from FEMA on the additional
funding for our fire stations," Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser
said in the news release. "The new administration has been outstanding to
work with and has done a great job at responding to Plaquemines Parish's
needs."

In St. Bernard Parish, Fire Station No. 6 in Chalmette will receive more
than $1.1 million in additional funding to help pay for demolition of the
existing facility, FEMA said.

"We are very grateful for the support we have received from our partners
with FEMA and from the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness," St. Bernard Parish President Craig P. Taffaro, Jr. said in
the news release. "The funding support from FEMA has been a critical
component of our recovery. We started with not a single fire station under
repair when our team began work in January 2008. Today there are five
completed stations and five brand new ones under construction."

All three fire stations are eligible for FEMA funding as replacement
projects because of the extent of their storm-related damages, the news
release said.

"Fire stations, along with the courageous men and women who work out of
them, help safeguard the properties and lives of their surrounding
communities," said FEMA's Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office Interim
Director Mark Landry. "Through providing funding to restore such crucial
facilities, we are not only aiming to rebuild their physical structures, but
more importantly, we are attempting to help restore public safety and
normalcy to their larger communities."

"Getting our first responders back in the field has always been a recovery
priority, and these funds will restore fire stations in parishes most
affected by Hurricane Katrina," said Robin Keegan, executive director of the
Louisiana Recovery Authority.