Three of 19 house trailers at a local mobile home park had tags showing them safe for habitation, although officials said Friday they believe such federal paperwork should have been removed when they were auctioned off as scrap.
The trailers -- which were not given county occupancy permits -- are at the Arrowood Mobile Home Park on Wrightsboro Road and were once used as housing for those displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, officials suspect.
The mobile homes were designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as scrap, meaning they were not meant for habitation, before being sold at auction. However, some trailers still carried a federal Housing and Urban Development tag listing them as livable.
Richard Harmon, the Columbia County Devel opment Services director, said the trailers remain under investigation after a Friday examination by county inspectors and officials with the state Fire Marshal's Office. State officials intend to check the authenticity of the trailer tags with HUD, Mr. Harmon said. He said he should know the results early next week.
Mr. Harmon said he learned about the trailers from a St. Louis reporter who told him a Missouri inspector had discovered scrap trailers about to go into use at a mobile home park near St. Louis. The reporter, Mr. Harmon said, found out the Missouri trailer park is owned by the same company that owns Arrowood -- New York-based KDM Development Corp.
Mr. Harmon said a KDM executive phoned Friday to tell them they would need a court order to look at other trailers.
Since October, 1,100 of the trailers have been sold as scrap, said FEMA spokeswoman Alexandra Kiren. All of the trailers were damaged and some contained dangerous levels of formaldehyde.
There are now concerns FEMA officials might have failed to remove the HUD stickers from many of the trailers before they were sold.
Some of the trailers were purchased at auction by a Florida-based broker, who then sold them to KDM.
About two dozen FEMA trailers also are in use at Fort Gordon's Thurmond Lake recreational facility, said spokesman James L. Hudgins.
However, Mr. Hudgins said the trailers are different models than the ones sold as scrap and that they were cleared by preventative medicine specialists assigned to Eisenhower Army Medical Center prior to use.
Reach Donnie Fetter at (706) 868-1222, ext. 115, or donnie.fetter@augustachronicle.
Comments
This is just another attempt by Bush to use FEMA to damage the black man. Since he was unable to hurt them any more in New Orleans, he's using the HUD tags to try to harm them across the country. That dang Bush and his legacy of hate. Will we never be rid of him?
Haha, Patricia. Who are you baiting on this one? Have a great day.
That damn Obama. He made 19 white families homeless in order to move his Muslim friends in. Now what are these homeless white people going to do?
Look, SCGAL, I hooked one.
Hypo, I also heard Pres. Obama signed and order last week leting in 150000 Palestine refergees into the US because no country wanted. Imagine leting in terrorists.
This story is about GREED!!! This company paid very little for these trailors and thought they could get away with it! Then they would take full advantage of the POOR! Thank you Columbia county for taking care of your citizens and not backing down to a Court Order!!!!! And another question, if they are sold as scrap, who buys them?
I saw some of these at the lake recently and they look exactly like the ones on the news! Can someone please check those?
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