ANOTHER FEMA Fiasco...They May Have to Change 118,000 FEMA Trailor Locks!!

It seems one key may open may fit all locks!!!! Lord Have Mercy!!! FEMA may have to change locks on 118,000 trailers By James Varney Staff writer What began as a problem with a single travel trailer has mushroomed into yet another trailer fiasco for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and now the front door locks on as many as 118,000 of the temporary units might have to be changed. What happened was FEMA learned the keys to one trailer can open as many as 50 others, an offshoot the agency attributed to the fact that only three companies manufacture the trailer locks in the United States. It learned of that, however, not through some crime spree but through a report on the potholes plaguing the Renaissance Park trailer lot, the biggest trailer park that FEMA operates in Louisiana with more than 570 units, authorities said. Last Friday, Baton Rouge television station WAFB 9 was reporting a story on potholes at the Renaissance Park site when a resident boasted he could open other trailers with his key, backed up his claim with an on-camera demonstration, and, voila, another major headache for the federal relief effort on the hurricane shredded Gulf Coast erupted. FEMA officials said they have made changing the locks a priority. Â"WeÂ're aggressively stepping out to minimize the risk,Â" FEMA spokesman Pat Philbin said in Washington. Locally, the issue could loom largest at locations where many trailers are clustered, even though those spots do have 24-hour security, said Jim Stark, director of FEMAÂ's LouisianaÂ's transition recovery office. Â"Some of these sites are pretty big and security canÂ't be everywhere at once,Â" Stark said. FEMA bought some 13 different kinds of trailers to provide temporary housing in the storm-stricken areas, and to date has 76,000 installed and occupied in Louisiana, a number FEMA expects to grow given it has received roughly 92,000 applications for trailers, Stark said. That concentration illuminated a quirk -- the shortage of lock manufacturers -- that wasnÂ't clear in the past, when private residents bought trailers and had them scattered about the country, Stark noted. FEMA crews are not expected to begin addressing the lock similarities in New Orleans until today, starting with the group sites and then moving on to individual units, agency spokesman Ronnie Simpson said. When asked how many locks might be replaced, Simpson said, Â"all of them if we have to.Â" Monday afternoon in Mid-City, several trailer occupants said they had not been told about the development, although they were not unduly alarmed. Indeed, some said it was the publicizing of the issue that troubled them as much or more than the duplications themselves. Â"When this gets out it could be like Katrina herself blowing through and a lot of people are going to find themselves coming up short,Â" said Bruce Jacobs, 39, who is living in a Cleveland Avenue trailer with his three sons. Authorities said that, so far, there may have been isolated cases of travel trailer burglaries but not a rash of them. Â"WeÂ're not aware of this as an issue, but if FEMA knows something we need to have them make us aware of it, too,Â" said Bambi Hall, a New Orleans Police Department spokeswoman. Nevertheless, JacobsÂ' concern is well-founded, according to Louisiana politicians of both parties who were quick to jump on the issue and the agency. Following a congressional briefing on the topic, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. said she was encouraged by FEMAÂ's rapid and pro-active response to the problem but labeled it all too typical of the agencyÂ's track record. Â"This development certainly adds to a long list of oversights lost in the dysfunctional bureaucracy of the agency,Â" Landrieu said in a press release. A statement from U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal, RMetairie, was less conciliatory toward FEMA, and accused the agency of knowing about the problem long before the televised report and doing nothing to solve it. Â"This is a problem that should never have occurred and I am disappointed that FEMA has failed once again to provide a safe environment for these residents,Â" JindalÂ's press release read in part. Meanwhile, there are steps that residents can take to make their trailers safer, according to Larry Preston Williams, a self-employed security consultant and former NOPD officer. These range from the installation of wireless intruder alarms, to upgrading window locks, to getting a dog that barks. He allowed that the first item on his list, which can retail at prices north of $700, is probably too expensive for many people trying to rebuild their houses. It remained unclear if some of the suggestions, such as putting burglar bars inside some windows, was either permissible under FEMA rules or advisable given considerations like the need to escape during a fire. Stark sidestepped the matter Monday, while urging a calm approach by trailer occupants. Â"I would advise against doing anything like that at this time,Â" he said. (James Varney can be reached at jvarney@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3386.) http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdat...14.html#172029>