NOFD Press Releases

Charles Parent
Superintendent

New Orleans Fire Department
Charles Parent, Superintendent
317 Decatur Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2009

NOFD CHIEF CHARLES PARENT REMARKS ON HIS TRIP TO CUBA

New Orleans Fire Department (NOFD) Superintendent Charles Parent felt the recent trip to Cuba was extremely educational and was very impressed with the Cuban first responders’ preparedness for emergency disasters. He noted that, a good dialog with Cuban officials regarding hurricane preparedness and response was established. He believes that the New Orleans delegation was able to provide the Cuban officials with lessons learned from our experiences during Hurricane Katrina.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina Chief Parent sent NOFD members to hard hit areas in the state of Florida, to obtain information, that was utilized as we developed our hurricane plan. This information was instrumental in our preparedness response during Hurricane Katrina. Chief Parent said, “It is our philosophy in learning from those who have experienced disasters first hand. We will strive to keep an open dialog with first responders around the world.” Over the last four years Chief Parent has met with first responders from Japan, Australia, Great Britain, Jamaica, Iraq and the Netherlands, just to name a few.

Chief Parent said “Fire fighting is a brotherhood united throughout the world that looks pass race, religion and politics, our goal is to preserve lives and save property of the communities we serve. That is our common bond.”

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Freud Alexandre