The thousands of New Orleans residents who fled for safety are getting a bit homesick. The city is slowly draining, and block by block, emergency officials are labeling sectors of the city as “secure.” The expected massive influx of returning residents has officials on edge, and firefighters from across the country, like the six who left DeKalb County Monday, are converging on the city to make the process easier.

DeKalb Assistant Fire Chief Bruce Harrison is one of the firefighters down in the Big Easy.

“It has been a phenomenal effort,” he reported from New Orleans. “Everyone works very hard with little rest, trying to make a difference.”

Much of their focus centers on Algiers, a portion of New Orleans across the Mississippi River from downtown. It is the site of one of the first repopulation efforts.

“The devastation and destruction is unprecedented. It never stops,” Harrison said.

Most of the firefighters’ time has been spent trying to make the homes of the New Orleans firefighters’ watertight, accessible and livable. Harrison, along with the others, have worked long hours, often through their allotted rest time.

The six-person group joins three other local firefighters already down there.

Algiers is one of the few communities in which electricity is being restored, and the firefighters have a constant battle against fires caused by downed wires. Damaged gas lines and the fires they create add to the work.

Beginning Monday, the firefighters were placed at the Girod Street station as first responders for fires. This duty came at a critical moment, because Monday was the first day residents of the Algiers neighborhood re-entered their community.

Difficulties have arisen in predicting how the staggered re-entry would actually take place because of the lack of ability to properly communicate with a displaced population.

Firefighters had to prepare for the possibility about 200,000 people could attempt to return to the city. Harrison said, “We expected more emergency activity Monday.”

Cell phone service has been erratic, and coupled with no internet communication, getting things done can be difficult. Also, traffic lights are mostly inoperable, Harrison said.

On Sunday, four more local firefighters are headed to the disaster area, two apiece from DeKalb and Sycamore, as part of 200 Illinois firefighters sent for a 14-day deployment. They will man the Sycamore vehicle along with DuPage County colleagues, according to Sycamore Fire Chief Bill Riddle .

“We probably won’t know when our engine is returning until the 13th day,” Riddle said.

The new task force will relieve eight local firefighters who have been gone since Sept. 5. They will begin traveling home Monday.