Relief effort in South frustrates local firefighters

KINGSTON - <snip>

"WE WERE told that we got a special operation," said DeFillipo, 44. "We were going to be chasing President Bush around that day. ... We were to smile and stand behind the president and the FEMA director" during photo opportunities.

Problem was, the firefighters said, the president wasn't in New Orleans when they got there because he had left for Baton Rouge. So the 50 firefighters took a two-hour bus trip in 115-degree heat "still trying to chase down the president," said DeFillipo, a nine-year veteran of the Kingston Fire Department. <snip>

WHEN they got to Baton Rouge, the firefighters learned Bush had headed off to Mississippi. <snip>

"I would never have believed it unless I saw it," DeFillipo said. "The devastation just goes on for miles and miles and miles. I mean, it just goes on forever."

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