Wednesday, July 25, 2007
ROUND AND ROUND WE GO (FEMA)
RV Business
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Days after the Federal Emergency Management Agency‘s (FEMA) chief spokesman said concerns about formaldehyde would not stop it from selling or donating surplus disaster trailers, the agency said Tuesday (July 24) that it is reviewing the policy.
The Associated Press reported that FEMA provided about 120,000 travel trailers to victims of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Some occupants last year began reporting illnesses, including nosebleeds and headaches.
FEMA‘s chief spokesman, Aaron Walker, told the Associated Press in an e-mail late Friday that the agency would continue to sell or donate the trailers, and that recipients "will be fully advised of the concerns regarding formaldehyde levels."
He did not say when FEMA had changed its position.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Tuesday that he was sending FEMA Director R. David Paulison a letter reminding him that the trailers are dangerous and shouldn‘t be occupied.
Representatives from FEMA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were in Louisiana and Mississippi this week for fact-finding meetings, Walker said.
Since Saturday, about 800 residents of federally issued trailers on the Gulf Coast had called a FEMA health line, said Jim Stark, the director of FEMA‘s Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office.
FEMA began distributing fliers on formaldehyde to trailer residents last year and had given worried residents the option of moving into older trailers or into rentals, he said. Until last week, there had been only about 50 complaints, he said.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Days after the Federal Emergency Management Agency‘s (FEMA) chief spokesman said concerns about formaldehyde would not stop it from selling or donating surplus disaster trailers, the agency said Tuesday (July 24) that it is reviewing the policy.
The Associated Press reported that FEMA provided about 120,000 travel trailers to victims of the 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Some occupants last year began reporting illnesses, including nosebleeds and headaches.
FEMA‘s chief spokesman, Aaron Walker, told the Associated Press in an e-mail late Friday that the agency would continue to sell or donate the trailers, and that recipients "will be fully advised of the concerns regarding formaldehyde levels."
He did not say when FEMA had changed its position.
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Tuesday that he was sending FEMA Director R. David Paulison a letter reminding him that the trailers are dangerous and shouldn‘t be occupied.
Representatives from FEMA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were in Louisiana and Mississippi this week for fact-finding meetings, Walker said.
Since Saturday, about 800 residents of federally issued trailers on the Gulf Coast had called a FEMA health line, said Jim Stark, the director of FEMA‘s Louisiana Transitional Recovery Office.
FEMA began distributing fliers on formaldehyde to trailer residents last year and had given worried residents the option of moving into older trailers or into rentals, he said. Until last week, there had been only about 50 complaints, he said.
