Reflections of relief

By: ELIZABETH WEST
Associate Editor

For seven Ville Platte firemen, 10-years after Hurricane Katrina they are still left with vivid memories of the damage the natural disaster left behind.
On Monday, August 29, 2005 the storm made landfall and drastically altered the lives of thousands of Louisiana people.
With Katrina having gone easy on the central and northern portion of the state, individuals like Pat Derouselle, fireman for the Ville Platte Fire Department, saw an opportunity to lend a helping hand to those suffering in the south-eastern portion of Louisiana.
On Tuesday at 3:00 a.m., just one day after Katrina destructively traveled through the state, Derouselle along with six other Ville Platte firemen (Joel Manuel, Joff Fuselier, Brad Launey, Scott Dupre, Chris Soileau and Derek Marcantel) loaded down three trucks with supplies and headed south to aid in rescuing the many people that were caught in Katrina’s deadly path.
The group of Ville Platte firefighters could not prepare themselves for what they were about to face. Dupre said, “It was so foggy that morning and I remember once you got passed Baton Rouge everything was pitch black. You could not see anything. That made things real and scary.”
People back home gave support to their local men who were putting their lives on hold to assist in helping those who were left with nothing. In true fireman fashion, this group of men still remember what others did for them during this chaotic time.
Soileau said, “The Evangeline Bank Board happened to be having a meeting the day that Katrina hit and when they heard that we were going down there to help, the board members decided to donate money to us to help pay for the gas we needed to get down there and to run the generator and for food. We were very grateful for that.”
So many stories were coming out of the looting and violence that engulfed New Orleans and the surrounding areas in the days following Katrina. Those stories left Derouselle’s wife concerned about what her husband was getting into. “My wife was worried because we had young kids. I told her, don’t worry about us we are going to be fine. These people are doing without,” said Derouselle. “We have everything but these people had nothing. When I say nothing, I mean these people only had what was on their back and they were trying to see about their kids like we would do as a father. I knew I could do something to help.”
Even with the support of their community, the VP firemen could not anticipate what they were about to experience.
Upon arrival, the group of men parked Marcantel’s camper on the side of the interstate at the Causeway Blvd. exit. Marcantel was a part of the group that aided in the removal of stranded people from the areas that Katrina had nearly completely submerged in water.
After parking their camper, the seven firemen began a four-day journey that would involve little sleep, little food and water, and little to no contact with their loved ones back home. Instead their days were filled with hours of discovering people a way out of the devastation Katrina left behind.
Work immediately began for the men when they entered New Orleans. Soileau said, “Work was constant from packing water to dealing with the people. It never stopped.”
Helicopters would pick people up in places like Plaquemines Parish and then land where the VP firemen were set up.
Soileau said, “We would escort the people from the helicopter to the side of the interstate. We had to carry many of the elderly people that were being flown in from nursing homes from the helicopter to the side of the road. These people just sat there until there was a seat on a bus to bring them out.”
Buses that were there to pick up those that had been flown in by helicopters did not arrive until Thursday. Derouselle said, “Things were not organized at all.” This forced people to sit on the side of the road in the heat for days.
Helicopters would sometimes drop pallets of water and MREs to provide the hungry people with some source of drink and food. Derouselle said, “These people were in survival mode so when the pallets were dropped they would swarm that area and fight over the MREs and water.”
In the midst of the disorganization the group of local firefighters were able to add a little bit of comfort during a situation filled with discomfort. Soileau said, “We brought tarps and we would lay them on the ground because the grass was long and wet and these people were sitting out there for days. They were happy just to sit on that dry tarp.”
The heat according to Soileau reached the 90’s everyday. “There was no shade anywhere unless you were dying because then you had a cot to sit on under the overpass and let me tell you it was hot. We had brought a tent and set it up for people to have some shade.”
Today these men remember the lives they came in contact with back in 2005 and wonder how they are today.
Soileau told a story of an individual who after losing everything had only his American Bulldog left. Soileau said, “No pets were allowed on the buses but during my conversation with a man out there he told me that he had lost everything and while looking down at his dog he said this is all I have left.”
After seeing the desperation in this man’s eyes, Soileau took it upon himself to find a way to help that man keep his dog. After talking to a bus driver and a policeman, Soileau was able to get the man and his dog onto a bus. Soileau said, “I’d like to know where he is today.”
While the Ville Platte fireman were able to witness some people successfully being loaded on to buses and transported to shelter, they could not save them all.
Derouselle said, “There was this one lady dressed nice in what looked like her church clothes and she was carrying a little tote bag with her. I remember walking her off the chopper and she said I haven’t had my insulin in two or three days so I got an insulin shot and injected her. She told me her son was coming to pick her up but I knew that wasn’t going to happen because no one could even get passed LaPlace. You could tell she was a little delusional because she kept saying she spoke to her son today and he was on his way to pick her up. She said he was coming from Dallas.”
Derouselle remembered that the lady was named Vern and she was either 75 or 77-years-old. “After I gave her the insulin shot she said to me I feel so much better now so I sat her in the shade and told her don’t move I’ll be right back to check on you. When I returned, she was dead.”
That moment has continued to impact Derouselle’s life in the decade since. “Every time me and my wife take our kids to New Orleans and we pass by that spot my kids always ask me is that where it happened and I just say yea, that’s where it all happened,” Derouselle said.
Despite the death and devastation they all experienced, when the firemen were asked if they would do it all again, everyone of them said yes.