Do You Own A FEMA Trailer?

It was ten years ago that Hurricane Katrina  came ashore at New Orleans. "Heck of a job, Brownie" (Michael DeWayne Brown) was given operational control of search and rescue and recovery efforts under the Bush administration . He was widely criticized for incompetent handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by state, local and federal officials. 

Despite President Obama not even being in office during Katrina 29% of Louisiana Republicans blame President Obama for the poor response to Katrina. Only 28% blamed President George Bush. A 2007 Government Accountability Office report noted that FEMA operated "like a volunteer fire department" with a workforce that was mostly "composed of non-permanent employees with various terms."

FEMA Trailers

What blame is being placed? Well, one of the most notable failures of the government's response in Katrina was the purchase and deployment of the now notorious FEMA Trailers.  Many were very small living units but conceivably better than living in a tent or out in the open. The problem is that most of the units had excessive levels of toxic formaldehyde off-gassing into the occupant's lungs - levels 5 to 40 times the maximum recommended exposure level for humans.

Formaldehyde exposure can lead to a variety of health problems, especially for children and older adults: headaches, nosebleeds, difficulty breathing, menstrual disorders, emphysema, and lung and nasopharyngeal cancer.

Resellers are still selling used FEMA trailers to unsuspecting buyers looking for a good deal on used recreational vehicles. Do a Google search to see any of of over 100,000 links to used FEMA Trailers. There were nearly 140,000 FEMA trailers originally resold or donated by the federal government.

Do you possibly own a FEMA trailer or interested in buying a trailer that might be one? Find out at this site.

To report people illegally selling or renting FEMA trailers, you can call the inspector general of the General Services Administration at (800) 424-5210. You can also call your local government building code inspector. The EPA's Toxic Substance Control Act has an assistance line at (202) 554-1404.