NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 34
STORM SEASON
AN NFPA JOURNAL SPECIAL REPORT
losing their own homes who were bringing food, clothing, and water to the first
responders. The firefighters are committed to their community, and they want
to see Houston succeed. It will.
On the night of September 10, Hurricane Irma, a Category 4 hurricane with
sustained winds of 130 mph, made
landfall in the Florida Keys before
turning north and tracking the length
of the state. Though spared a direct
hit by the storm, Miami-Dade County
experienced hurricane-force gusts that
knocked out power, downed trees, and
threatened thousands of lives. During
the storm, Chief Downey issued a rare
no-response order: residents were told
not to expect help if they called 911
while Irma was at its peak.
CHIEF DOWNEY
I issued the no-response order at about
8:30 a.m. when we had about 50-60
mph winds, so we stopped responding
but we continued to collect 911 calls.
Holding is the toughest thing to do, but
"This being
Florida, there were
alligators, and
some of the crews
were dodging
moccasins in the
water-not the
ones that you
wear on your feet,
the ones that
slither."
Chief Otto Drozd III
the safety of firefighters was the issue.
If a call comes in as a life-threatening
cardiac arrest, or as a fire with persons
trapped that we can somewhat confirm, we put it right back to the area
command and say, 'listen, you guys
have to make the [determination if it's
safe enough to respond].' We had situations where guys felt they were able
to get out. We all have stories-one of
our fire engines went out and delivered a baby, then took the mom and
the newborn to the hospital in the fire
truck, because it was easier to move
the fire truck through the streets than
the rescue truck.
When we resumed responding at
about 6:30 p.m., we were holding
about 200 911 calls. We put extra
units in service-medic units, 10 extra
rescue units, seven extra suppression
units-and we were able to clear the
log in about an hour.
Orlando took a similar, but slightly
different, approach to its response
during the height of Irma.
THE DAMAGE DONE
How do Harvey, Irma, and Maria stack up to other powerful cyclones that have made landfall in the
United States? All three rank as some of the costliest storms in the nation's history.
Damage estimates from hurricanes in the U.S. from 1900-2017 (in 2017 USD)
$180
billion*
200
$137
150
100
$95
$100
Hurricane
Maria
2017
Hurricane
Irma
2017
billion
billion
billion*
$53
billion
50
0
Hurricane
Sandy
2012
Hurricane
Katrina
2005
Hurricane
Harvey
2017
*based on top-end estimates in media reports
(SOURCES: Media reports; National Hurricane Center at NOAA)
34 | NFPA JOURNAL * N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - November/December 2017
Contents
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 1
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - Contents
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 3
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 4
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 5
NFPA Journal - November/December 2017 - 6
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