Clutching clear plastic bags that contained all the possessions they could carry, the residents of Patten Towers waited in clusters under a hastily erected Red Cross tent. It was time to evacuate.
They were careful not to lose the wristbands that identified them as actual residents of Patten Towers, rather than any one of an unknowable number of hangers-on and transients who loitered among the refugees from a Tuesday night electrical fire.
"Everyone must have a form of ID to be assessed," shouted a PK Management official above the din of residents left behind in the Brainerd Recreational Complex.
For the sick, disabled and elderly evacuees outside, the square scrap of paper with a letter written on it entitled them to board the bus that would take them away.
Away from standing in line for lunch from a truck. Away from sleeping on a military-style cot in a Brainerd basketball gym with 100 other people. Away from the nagging uncertainty of not knowing what tomorrow holds, how to get medicine or when this nightmare will end.
The residents weren't told where they'd be going. They couldn't immediately tell friends, family and others where to reach them. Those who weren't on the list were turned away. Some of the girlfriends, grandmothers and drifters who form part of the larger Patten Towers community but don't pay rent got into cars to follow the buses. The convoys drafted the buses through red lights and down Interstate 24, tracking them all the way to the downtown hotels that will serve as temporary homes for the next few days.
Initially, 241 residents fled the Tuesday night fire. Many found a couch or an extra bed in the home of a friend or family member for what they thought would be just a few days. Just over 100 remained stuck at the Brainerd Recreational Complex overnight on Sunday, including a group that was moved there from the East Brainerd Church of Christ.
But the news that residents would receive vouchers for hotels brought dozens streaming back into the shelter for a chance at a golden ticket, creating a logistical nightmare.
Contradictory and confusing lists of names left many residents frustrated, waiting in lines that went nowhere as workers from PK Management struggled to understand who would be allowed to board a CARTA bus to the La Quinta Inn or the Staybridge Suites.
Some residents' ID cards remained behind in Patten Towers. Those residents waited while workers figured out how to identify them.
Dotsay Poole pumped her fist when her name was called and leapt to her feet to grab the piece of paper that represented a seven-day vacation from the noise and smell of an emergency shelter. As the gym slowly emptied, Red Cross workers pulled the cots out a rear door, brushed off the crumbs and lined them up in the grass out back. The cots will need to be disinfected before they can be used again. Workers will throw away the piles of emergency towels and blankets that were scattered across the building. It costs more to wash them than it does to simply replace them.
At a cost of more than $80,000 in donated funds, workers from the Salvation Army and Red Cross served more than 12,000 meals during the week, supplied 11,000 blankets and towels, conducted more than 600 medical checkups and treated two cats. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.aulaundry.com.
A team from Oak Street Baptist Church brought a trailer filled with laundry machines to wash clothes. Goodwill Chattanooga distributed two outfits of clothes to each resident. Hamilton County and Chattanooga police officers split up security duties.
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