Daily Fire

Mid-City

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Slew of fires testing crippled force
Next blow could be loss of two helicopters

Amid the catastrophe, firefighters and rescue personnel descended on New Orleans from across the country. Equipment was donated, repairs were launched and help at fire scenes was plentiful. Ten months later, the department has largely been left to its own devices. Right now the department is lobbying hard to retain two frequently used fire-fighting helicopters -- Voodoo I and II -- on loan from the Federal Emergency Management Agency until June 30.

"We really don't know what they're going to do (with the helicopters), but we hope we can keep both. They're a tremendous asset to the city right now," Woodridge said.

To bolster its claim for the copters, the Fire Department is trying to systematically document the city's water-pressure crisis, a problem caused by the loss of 85 million gallons of water daily through broken subterranean water pipes.

Woodridge said fire personnel are checking fire hydrants throughout the city to gauge their water pressure, then logging their findings on a map. Dramatically low water levels are reported immediately to the city's Emergency Operations Center, but the bulk of the measurements just get added to the grid.

"In order to present FEMA with a solid argument that we need these helicopters, we're gathering scientific data on a day-to-day basis," Woodridge said.