WSB-TV Confronts Man Selling FEMA Trailers Video

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WSB-TV Confronts Man Selling FEMA Trailers

Tests show Many Trailers Contained High Levels Of Formaldehyde.

Georgia

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/24477294/detail.html

Images: FEMA Trailers

Posted: 11:49 am EDT August 2, 2010

Updated: 8:40 pm EDT August 2, 2010

BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. -- Channel 2 Action News consumer investigator Jim Strickland

discovered a Bartow County man reselling trailers first used by the Federal

Emergency Management Agency during the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

The trailers were liquidated by the government after tests showed many trailers

contained high levels of formaldehyde.

A whistle-blower contacted Strickland about the trailer sale. Strickland went

undercover to learn what the man behind the sale was telling his buyers.

WSB-TV Confronts Man Selling FEMA Trailers

" The trailers all appeared out of nowhere then they started having sales on

'em, " said witness Trent Coen, of Acworth.

Coen lives just down the road from an abandoned plumbing business, where out

front, more than a dozen former FEMA trailers suddenly appeared for sale.

PDF: FEMA Final Report

The government had placed stickers on every trailer, warning they were not to be

used for housing.

" You saw these stickers on all the trailers? " asked Strickland of Coen.

" On all the trailers. Every trailer had one, " Coen responded.

Coen said he watched the man conducting the sale power wash the trailers and

pull the stickers off each unit. Coen later found them discarded on the

property.

" Not everybody knows about it, but once he came and pressure washed them, these

stickers disappeared, " he said. " And then they're being tagged on Saturday with

a sign: camp trailer sale. "

On Strickland's first visit, there wasn't anyone there to talk about the

stickers Coen found, so a Channel 2 Action News producer returned with hidden

cameras.

" Are you Terry ? " the producer asked.

" Yes I am, " responded.

is a Bartow County businessman who told Strickland he bought 15 of the

trailers at a private auction in Calhoun in June. downplayed the

government warning about living in the trailers.

" They don't want you to live in these things full time, when they're new, "

said. " They're aired out now, they're OK. Now (FEMA) don't say nothing. "

The government made the first buyers sign a document acknowledging the trailers

may contain formaldehyde. Buyers had to pledge to inform any subsequent buyer

the trailers are not to be used for housing.

" They'd be fine to spend a month on the road? " asked the producer.

" Oh God, yeah, " said .

In congressional testimony, FEMA Associate Administrator Garrat said in

April resellers " must continue " to pass along warnings about the trailers " for

the life of the unit. "

" I need to ask you why you removed those stickers, " said Strickland to .

" I told you I don't want to be on camera, " responded.

After first agreeing to an interview then backing out, Strickland found at

his office.

" I have nothing to hide, I just don't want to talk to you about that, " said

. " They're my trailers, nobody said I cannot pull 'em off. "

FEMA referred our findings to the Inspector General at the General Services

Administration.

FEMA used the GSA to auction off 120,000 trailers.

The Sierra Club, which helped pinpoint the formaldehyde issue with the trailers,

told Strickland the stickers and paperwork do not go far enough to protect the

public.

Statement of Racusen, FEMA Spokesperson:

" Any individual or company who has purchased one of these units and is using it

improperly is violating the law and subject to investigation and possible

criminal punishment and penalties, including monetary fines or up to 5 years in

prison. FEMA takes any possible violations of the terms and conditions of how

these units can be used extremely seriously and refers any cases that we learn

of to the Inspector General of the General Services Administration for

investigation. We have referred the information presented to us by WSB-TV to

GSA's Inspector General for further investigation. Anyone who violates these

agreements should be held accountable. "

" In 2006 FEMA began its inventory reduction plan to dispose of excess temporary

housing units that are located at FEMA staging sites, this process was completed

early this year. The plan initially made excess temporary housing units

available to other federal agencies and to nonprofit organizations by donation

via the State Agencies for Surplus Property (SASPs). The remainder are offered

for sale to the general public via GSA Auctions. FEMA works closely with the GSA

to ensure that potential buyers are made aware of all air quality testing that

has taken place. In the case of travel trailers, buyers must sign a waiver

agreeing that the unit will not be used for any housing, and a notice to this

effect placed on the unit itself. This agreement also stipulates that if the

units are resold, the new owners must inform the purchaser that the units are

not intended to be used for housing. "