FEMA's Mobile Homes For Fire Victims Are Allegedly Toxic

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 28, 2007 at 12:33 PM PST

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

FEMA today installed the first of about a dozen mobile homes assigned to San Diego County fire victims on the La Jolla and Rincon Indian reservations. But continued reports say those mobile homes have

FEMA today installed the first of about a dozen mobile homes assigned to San Diego County fire victims on the La Jolla and Rincon Indian reservations. But continued reports say those mobile homes have high levels of toxic formaldehyde, like many of the trailers distributed after Hurricane Katrina. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

A class action lawsuit is ongoing on behalf of hundreds of Katrina victims who say they suffer health problems from living in travel trailers provided by FEMA.

Become a KPBS sponsor

FEMA officials say they are not assigning trailers to fire victims in San Diego County, they're bringing in full size mobile homes.

But Shelly Bluejay Pierce, who writes for the largest independent Native American paper in the country, the Native American Times, says testing done for the lawsuit shows the mobile homes may also be a health risk.

Pierce : There was hardly any distinguishable difference between the formaldehyde levels in the mobile homes or the travel trailers provided by FEMA. Out of 700 units, only nine of them tested right at or slightly below what the formaldehyde limits are and all the rest of them were over the limits.

FEMA officials say 13 Native Americans have been granted mobile homes and applications have come in from about 30 other people in back country areas of San Diego.

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

twitter

Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.