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FEMA Suspends Phoenix's Rescue Team Over Firearms Rule
Updated: 10-05-2005 10:05:58 PM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX (AP) -- The Phoenix Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue team has been suspended from a federal agency because it sent armed police officers to protect firefighters during the recent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.
At issue is a rule in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Code of Conduct that prohibits Urban Search and Rescue teams from having firearms.
Phoenix's team that deployed for Hurricane Katrina relief and again for Hurricane Rita included four police officers deputized as U.S. marshals.
The team was credited with plucking more than 400 Hurricane Katrina survivors from rooftops and freeway overpasses in flooded sections of New Orleans.
Phoenix officials now are threatening to refuse some of the most dangerous deployments in the future or possibly even pull out of the federal agency altogether, unless the rules are changed to allow teams to bring their own security, even if that means police with guns.
Firehouse.com Story #1
FEMA Defends Suspension of Phoenix Team
Updated: 10-05-2005 10:03:46 PM
BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX (AP) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency is defending its suspension of a search and rescue team from the Phoenix Fire Department, saying the team knowingly violated rules that bar guns.
FEMA officials sent the 28-person Phoenix team home on Sept. 26 after members were seen getting on a helicopter with a loaded shotgun while working on Hurricane Rita relief efforts.
FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said Phoenix was the only one of 28 teams that was sent home.
The team was pulled ''after a series of judgment errors by team leaders which violated FEMA rules and which put that team, other teams, and the victims they were rescuing at unnecessary risk,'' Kinerney said in a written statement.
Four other teams were on standby when the Phoenix team was deactivated, so no victims were put at risk, Kinerney wrote.
The Phoenix team had deployed with four armed police officers who had been deputized as U.S. marshals.
The pullout ignited a firestorm Tuesday, with Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon calling the FEMA reaction ''stunning, unbelievable, bewildering and outrageous.''
The criticism of the federal agency continued Wednesday, with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl both taking on the issue.
Napolitano criticized FEMA's actions as unfathomable when asked about the situation during a news conference Wednesday.
''I don't understand the reason for it. I think our first responders need to be operating in a safe and secure area so they can focus on their work,'' Napolitano said. ''This is just one of those dumb bureaucratic decisions that FEMA is notorious for.''
Firehouse.com Article #2
Updated: 10-05-2005 10:05:58 PM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX (AP) -- The Phoenix Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue team has been suspended from a federal agency because it sent armed police officers to protect firefighters during the recent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast.
At issue is a rule in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Code of Conduct that prohibits Urban Search and Rescue teams from having firearms.
Phoenix's team that deployed for Hurricane Katrina relief and again for Hurricane Rita included four police officers deputized as U.S. marshals.
The team was credited with plucking more than 400 Hurricane Katrina survivors from rooftops and freeway overpasses in flooded sections of New Orleans.
Phoenix officials now are threatening to refuse some of the most dangerous deployments in the future or possibly even pull out of the federal agency altogether, unless the rules are changed to allow teams to bring their own security, even if that means police with guns.
Firehouse.com Story #1
FEMA Defends Suspension of Phoenix Team
Updated: 10-05-2005 10:03:46 PM
BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX (AP) -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency is defending its suspension of a search and rescue team from the Phoenix Fire Department, saying the team knowingly violated rules that bar guns.
FEMA officials sent the 28-person Phoenix team home on Sept. 26 after members were seen getting on a helicopter with a loaded shotgun while working on Hurricane Rita relief efforts.
FEMA spokesman Butch Kinerney said Phoenix was the only one of 28 teams that was sent home.
The team was pulled ''after a series of judgment errors by team leaders which violated FEMA rules and which put that team, other teams, and the victims they were rescuing at unnecessary risk,'' Kinerney said in a written statement.
Four other teams were on standby when the Phoenix team was deactivated, so no victims were put at risk, Kinerney wrote.
The Phoenix team had deployed with four armed police officers who had been deputized as U.S. marshals.
The pullout ignited a firestorm Tuesday, with Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon calling the FEMA reaction ''stunning, unbelievable, bewildering and outrageous.''
The criticism of the federal agency continued Wednesday, with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano and U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl both taking on the issue.
Napolitano criticized FEMA's actions as unfathomable when asked about the situation during a news conference Wednesday.
''I don't understand the reason for it. I think our first responders need to be operating in a safe and secure area so they can focus on their work,'' Napolitano said. ''This is just one of those dumb bureaucratic decisions that FEMA is notorious for.''
Firehouse.com Article #2
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And no, it's not in a med role this time, this group has more of an anti-terrorism 
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