PORTER – Fire crews from the Houston area are helping in Louisiana following Hurricane Ida.
“We’re providing emergency services and helping cover the inflation in calls they’re experiencing,” said Captain Brandon Shafer.
Shafer is among five members of the Porter Fire Department helping to relieve crews near Houma, which is about an hour southwest of New Orleans.
“These individuals here have to go home at some point to tend to their own personal belongings, their own homes, so they got to make sure this area is covered as well,” Shafer said.
He arrived about a week ago, getting a first-hand look at the aftermath.
“There’s a lot of devastation,” Shafer said. “There’s definitely, almost every home you drive by, there’s some form of damage.”
The captain and his colleagues are working alongside firefighters from Bayou Cane. The local chief is grateful for the extra help.
“When the five engines showed up, it moved some of us to tears because we knew the calvary was here and we knew that things are going to be ok,” said Bayou Cane Fire Chief Ken Himel.
Porter Fire Department - Montgomery County ESD 6 Chief Carter-Johnson said other departments from Texas are helping too.
“We have about 35 engines or tankers deployed to Louisiana with about 140 personnel on those,” Johnson said.
The current assignment runs two weeks and could be extended another week, according to Johnson.
“They came out and helped us in a big way in Harvey, so it’s definitely a great opportunity to come out and lend a hand in some of the other neighboring states,” Shafer said.