GALLIANO, La. — Firefighters from North Texas are on the front lines in Louisiana - and could be for weeks - trying to help the region recover from the devastating damage from Hurricane Ida.
"Power lines down. Nobody has power down here. There's no running water whatsoever," said Fort Worth Battalion Chief Bobby Fimbres in a Zoom conversation from Galliano, Louisiana in Lafourche Parish. That's where 19 members of the Fort Worth Fire Department are operating under the direction of TIFMAS, the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System.
"It's very humbling to see how devastating it really is down here," said Fort Worth fire Lt. Brant Frazier. "It's catastrophic to say the least. I honestly don't know that you could put words to it."
With a diesel generator supplying power to a Galliano fire station, the men shared their experiences filling in for local firefighters, many of them volunteer, to keep emergency response available to residents who rode out the storm.
"Some of their folks hadn't even seen their house. Didn't even know if they still had a house to go home to, yet," Frazier said of the Louisiana firefighters and first responders.
Lafourche Parish took a near direct hit from the hurricane. Winds in excess of 150 mph raged for more than 10 hours straight.
"Everything has damage. It's just to what degree that damage is," Frazier explained. "There is not a building, a boat, a vehicle or anything down here that rode out the storm that does not have some form of damage."
The local hospital had its roof peeled away, too. That's on top of the natural gas leaks that the firefighters said are "everywhere."
"With no power, there's no traffic lights, there's no streets lights," Fimbres added. "So, when it gets dark - it's dark. You can't see anything."
The firefighters from Forth Worth, along with crews from Sanger, Waxahachie, and Parker County, are scheduled to spend at least 14 days in Louisiana. But, given the extent of the damage, their mission could be extended or additional crews from North Texas sent as replacements when the two week assignment comes to an end. In Lafourche Parish alone, the firefighters have been told that repairing and rebuilding the electrical grid and the heavily damaged water system in Galliano could take months.
Asked what the general public could do, beyond continued support of non-profits and other organizations also providing help in Louisiana, Frazier said don't let the damage - and the need for help, fade -from your memory.
"Really the best thing we could say is just pray for the folks down here," he said. "The devastation is extremely significant."