Lake Charles FD Station Shown Leaking Inside During Rain

Over a year after Hurricanes Laura and Delta, most of SWLA is still living in conditions that we wouldn't want to be in. Some of us are still living with family, others living in campers in the front yard while waiting on contractors, supplies, and insurance claims. These types of living situations are not only physically exhausting to deal with, but mentally exhausting as well.

A video surfaced yesterday from a fire station in Lake Charles. The station, just like all of the Lake Charles area, was hit hard by multiple hurricanes, a freeze, and a flood. There are some stations around Lake Charles that are still shut down due to the severe damage that they took during the storms. The heavy rain yesterday just added to the damage and living conditions, just like it did for most of us relying on a $40 blue tarp to hold the water out. The video takes a look inside the station and walks around the current living conditions that the firefighters must endure day in and day out while waiting for a call to come and rescue us.

The video walks into the areas where they sleep at night, most seem to not be in the normal sleeping quarters that they usually are. You can see in the video that they are on blow-up mattresses in various locations around the station including their work out area. Random AC window units are seen with each mattress having a box fan next to the makeshift bed. This is where they sleep while on their 24-hour shifts days at a time. The only thing you hear in the video is dripping water from everywhere. Normally a nice little water sound is peaceful and calming, when it's dripping into 30-gallon trash cans, it tends to be quite the opposite. No place is dry it seems in the video. You see random buckets and cans all over, trying to catch the water from going all over the floor. There is even a can in their kitchen next to the sink trying to catch water from a leak in that area.

I realize that there are even worse situations for us out there and that it's all just a "hurry-up and wait" story. The area of SWLA is still waiting on recovery dollars from the federal government, some have already been approved. Let's just hope that all of our first responders are at the top of that list and they can get back to a much better working and living situation soon.