© 2025 KEDM
NPR News, Classical and Music of the Delta
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Katrina Files: The St. Bernard Parish Fire Department's Heroic Efforts

WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio | By Paul Maassen,
Mark Cave
Published August 26, 2015 at 6:00 AM EDT

This month, as part of WWNO's ongoing Katrina 10 coverage, we bring you The Katrina Files: Reflections from First Responders. This series is based on oral histories conducted by The Historic New Orleans Collection and hosted by Paul Maassen.

Click here to listen to the final installment of The Katrina Files.

In the spring of 2006, Mark Cave conducted interviews with members of the Saint Bernard Parish Fire Department to talk about their Katrina experiences. Members ofthe Fire Departmentwere pre-positioned in sturdy buildings throughout St. Bernard  Parish prior to the storm, including St. Bernard High School andthe Frederick J. Sigur Civic CenterinChalmette. 

Members of the SBFD used all forms of transportation to take people to safety.
St. Bernard Fire Department via The Historic New Orleans Collection. /
Members of the SBFD used all forms of transportation to take people to safety.
Floods damaged property throughout St. Bernard Parish.
St. Bernard Fire Department via The Historic New Orleans Collection /
Floods damaged property throughout St. Bernard Parish.

Copyright 2015 WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio
Louisiana News
Paul Maassen
Paul arrived at WWNO as general manager in March 2008. Since his arrival, Paul has strengthened the station’s finances, introduced new national news and information programs, revamped the digital WWNO2 schedule to complement 89.9, and launched digital WWNO3 as an all-jazz channel. He has placed new emphasis on WWNO’s role in the community, devoting resources to local news reporting and cultural features, and encouraging new collaborations among New Orleans’ cultural organizations and the region’s public media. Paul began his radio career in metropolitan New York – New Jersey, where, over eleven years, he served as on-air personality, operations manager, and program director for four commercial stations. In 1998 he became general manager of WNTI, a public station in Hackettstown, NJ affiliated with Centenary College, where he managed an all-volunteer staff. In 2005 he moved to the Dayton, OH area to serve as general manager of WYSO.
See stories by Paul Maassen
Mark Cave