L.A. COUNTY TEAMS READY FOR NEW YORK.SANTA CLARITA - Los Angeles County firefighters are on standby, ready to help in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of City's rescue and recovery efforts. Those with expertise in search, rescue, medical assistance or heavy- equipment operations are needed to help East Coast-based squads that have lost hundreds of firefighters in the World Trade Center disaster. ``We want to go and help ... especially since there are so many firefighters and policemen dead,'' said Capt. Gabriel Etcheverry of the department's Station 76 in Valencia. ``Finding people in uniform definitely strikes home more. It makes it a bit more emotional.'' Etcheverry is one of 62 county firefighters awaiting a call from Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the federal agency responsible for coordinating emergency planning, preparedness, risk reduction, response, and recovery. The agency works closely with state and local governments by funding emergency programs and providing technical or New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. officials for assistance. They are among 25 teams across the nation designated for disaster response. Crews are being flown by the National Guard and the Air Force to what has become known as Ground Zero at the site of the former World Trade Center. So far, nine teams from California, including some search and rescue workers from the city of Los Angeles
About 259 firefighters and police from New York are believed dead in the rubble from the twin skyscrapers hit by hijacked airliners that suicidal terrorists used as missiles, officials announced Thursday. ``Most guys are anxious to go,'' Etcheverry said. ``There's a tremendous amount of damage. You know it's terrible, but you don't really know the magnitude.'' Eight supervisorial members of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Not to be confused with Los Angeles Fire Department. The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD), serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including the City of La have already been sent to New York and Washington, D.C., to serve as coordinators in the efforts. The Los Angeles County Fire Department, experienced in rescue and recovery efforts at Northridge Meadows and at the Northridge Mall after the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, also helped in search and rescue in after the Oklahoma City bombing See Terrorism "The Oklahoma City Bombing" (Sidebar); Venue "Venue and the Oklahoma City Bombing Case" (Sidebar). in 1995. ``I suspect we'll go at some point,'' Etcheverry said. ``We may go later to relieve the original nine.'' In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , firefighters have started a vigil at the Los Angeles County Firefighter Memorial in City Terrace in memory of those who died while trying to save others at the World Trade Center. ``To have so many go down at once is such a tragic situation that it takes our breath away,'' said Capt. Scott Polgar of the department's battalion headquarters in Newhall. The vigil will be kept by rotating teams of firefighters from throughout the county until the body of the last firefighter has been pulled from the rubble of the collapsed buildings. ``It's the least we can do right now,'' said Scott Robinson, a firefighter paramedic par·a·med·ic n. A person who is trained to give emergency medical treatment or assist medical professionals. paramedic at Station 124 in Stevenson Ranch. ``These guys were doing their job. None had an idea that the building(s) would collapse like that. We're all dealing with it in our own way.'' Members of the county department have set up a disaster fund to help injured firefighters and families of those killed in New York. Contributions can be made to Local 1014 FDNY FDNY Fire Department New York (New York City, NY, USA) FDNY Fort Drum, New York (US Army) Disaster Fund, c/o F&A Federal Credit Union, 2625 Corporate Place, Monterey Park, CA 91754-7645, Attention Lee Jackson. |
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