What will Emergency Workers/Public Servants in New Orleans do when Gustav do they leave or stay?

Question

I'm curious as to what the Firefighters, Paramedics, and Police officers in New Orleans will do when Gustav hits. Will they leave along with everyone else or do they have to stay to enforce the curfew, and help the unintelligent people that refuse to leave?

Answer 1

At Kennedy Space Center, I had to tie myself to a palm tree and ride out the storm like Lt. Dan.  I expect that's what many of them are doing.

It's miserable duty and nobody appreciates it.  

Answer 2

Some police officers did. I'm pretty sure that all firemen, paramedics and most policemen were asked to stay and assist with the storm.  

Answer 3

What would be the point of having them if they're not going to stay?  You don't make sense.

Answer 4

yes you did answer your own Q in that they will stay (not all of them), They will be relatively safe, stay at a well fortified building during the very brunt of storm, they will have access to equipment to do their jobs as safely as possible. And hopefully this time they will have a lot more co-operation from the citizens and gov. than they did with Katrina.

Answer 5

Obviously first responders are still in the city.  There will be a few hospital patients who cannot be moved, but the evacuation was done very differently/better this time and no one who wanted to go was left behind.

There are always a few people who won't leave. That is NOT unique to New Orleans, but below is my take on the situation in NOLA right now:

- Most of them are people who believe they made an informed decision to stay, probably based on their experience during Katrina (not all of the city flooded). Those people will probably be OK because they are prepared and in a place that did not flood during Katrina.

- Some people stay because they view a disaster as an opportunity to steal/loot, and that is NOT something unique to New Orleans.

- Others stay because they are addicted to drugs, don't have the money to evacuate themselves, and know illegal drugs won't be allowed on the buses or in the shelters.

- A few stay because they are so out of touch with reality they don't know about the evacuation. That would include the street people who are psychotic and really should have already been in an institution.

Note that NOPD estimates there are about 10,000 people still in the city, down from about 70,000 for Katrina. The percentage of looters and druggies will probably be much lower than for Katrina - most of those populations never returned after Katrina.

There were about 500 "street people" who went to New Orleans after Katrina to take advantage of the no-questions-asked services available in a disaster zone (free food, free clothes, free shelter, free medical, etc.). They are often assumed to be "Katrina victims/homeless" by tourists but are not. They were most likely among the 11,000+ who were evacuated by bus and train, but I don't actually know.

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/index.ssf/...

Answer 6

You answered your question