pound sand after the entire industry was disparaged by the agency over the issue of formaldehyde levels in RVs used by a few victims of Hurricane Katrina. At that time, FEMA announced the agency would never again acquire RVs for use as temporary shelters.
Many of us wondered where else the agency would get temporary shelters that could be easily moved, and contained a kitchen, bath, sleeping quarters, televisions and on-board generators. Having ruled out abandoned boxcars, semi-trailers and pup tents, FEMA apparently has come to the conclusion that 12 million RVing American's can't be wrong They must have concluded that it's wiser to listen to 12 million people who have positive experiences living in their RVs than it is to listen to a few dozen victims egged on by lawyers trolling for class action suits.
In announcing the meeting, FEMA officials said they were interested in talking to the RV industry about creating units for states that wanted to use them after a disaster. FEMA plans to sidestep any liability issues by passing the buck to states, which would buy the units with FEMA money. But, hey, 49 states already know that RVs are good for America so I see that as a positive sign that RV makers will soon be making emergency shelters instead of laying of workers.
Copyright © 2008 by Greg Gerber
10/29/2008 1:58 PM
