New ID cards for first responders draw fury from 9-11 helpers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | September 3, 2007
DEVLIN BARRETT

Retiree Gene O'Brien hurried to the World Trade Center site after Sept. 11 from his Westchester County home in Scarsdale to help shuttle supplies to police and fire workers. Some days, his only ID to get into the disaster site was a tattoo on his forearm.

"A couple times, I showed them my Marine tattoo, and they said go ahead," recalled O'Brien, adding that he and other volunteers also came up with their own makeshift identification cards.

"We didn't forge anything; we just made them up with our own pictures and at one point we copied a UPC code off a Pepsi can, and they were as good as gold," he said.

It might not be so easy the next time a disaster hits.

The federal government is launching an ambitious ID program for rescue workers to keep everyday citizens from swarming to a disaster scene, hoping to bring better control and coordination to such situations.

A prototype of the new first-responder identification card already is being issued to local fire and police personnel in the Washington area.

The card-check system, proponents say, will get professionals on the scene quicker and keep untrained volunteers from making tough work more difficult.

"The final coup de grace was the World Trade Center," said deputy assistant U.S. Fire Administrator Charlie Dickinson. "Hundreds came that were never asked. Good intentions, good hearts, and it was extremely difficult for the Fire Department and the other departments to deal with them."

Many of those volunteers angrily dispute the notion they were a burden. They insist that in many instances, they were able to deliver respirators, hardhats and protective boots to workers when no one else seemed able.

Ground Zero volunteer Rhonda Shearer and her daughter launched a fast-moving supply system that bypassed regular channels, often infuriating city officials.

"They're more worried about keeping volunteers out than doing an analysis of what really went wrong," said Shearer.

"Independent citizens need to be involved, where we have no axe to grind or cross to bear. But we will tell the truth, and we will tell what we see and bear witness to the incompetence."

Under the system, FEMA is urging fire and police departments that are engaged in mutual-aid agreements to get a new type of ID card for their personnel.

FEMA would not issue the cards, but would promote national standards for the system.

Supporters say the cards could be checked at a disaster area with a card-reader device and used to verify a person's unique skills. For example, if police officers have been trained in how to handle hazardous materials, officials at the scene could deploy them to an area where their skills would be best put to use.

The cards would be purchased by local departments, but federal authorities hope that with enough demand they would cost $5 or less apiece.

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