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by MICHAEL SAUL, TONY SCLAFANI and DAVE GOLDINER
New York's Finest and Bravest rolled into New Orleans yesterday on a historic mission to patrol and protect the hurricane-battered city and region.
Citing a debt of honor for the outpouring of help after 9/11, more than 300 NYPD cops and 300 FDNY firefighters were set to do in the Big Easy what they do best in the Big Apple.
"Pretend New Orleans is the 124th Precinct," Police Lt. Daniel Albano told a group of cops yesterday morning as they prepared to board MTA buses and NYPD vans in New York for the 20-hour ride.
The operation is the largest out-of-city deployment in the history of the NYPD - and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called it the least New York can do to help in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
"The rest of the country did so much for this city on 9/11," Kelly said. "It's a small way for us to pay back."
"We understand we have an obligation, and we're happy to do it," added Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta.
The mission of mercy came as Mayor Bloomberg criticized the hurricane relief effort with some strong words - even as he was careful not to attack fellow Republican President Bush.
"We ask ourselves, 'How could this have happened in the richest nation on Earth?'" Bloomberg said. "The sad fact is that the vast majority of those who were left behind in New Orleans were either black or poor or both. ... As a nation, we all are to blame, and we all must do better the next time."
Democratic mayoral hopefuls blamed Bush, saying he dropped the ball after the storm struck.
The first bands of FDNY firefighters who made it to New Orleans yesterday morning quickly replaced local firefighters, exhausted from working around the clock for days. "We're here to give any kind of support they need," said Capt. Jim Hay of Ladder 163 in Queens.
The NYPD was setting up a base in suburban Harahan, La., and planned to patrol in Jefferson Parish and the City of New Orleans. "People were grateful to see us," one cop said. "They were cheering."
A 16-member NYPD search-and-rescue team was already working to find possible survivors and recover bodies in Hancock County, Miss.
The vans and buses that left yesterday from 1 Police Plaza were loaded high with cases of bottled water, latex gloves, MREs - meals ready to eat - and hand-held radios.
Thousands of cops and firefighters volunteered for the duty.
But for some - like Sgt. Ron Meyer, whose niece is a New Orleans police detective - the mission is personal. "My whole family is down there," said Meyer before jumping in a police van.
Many of the cops left behind their children starting school this week. The New Yorkers insisted they weren't worried about the perils they might face.
"I've slept in dirt holes before so I'm not too concerned about eating or sleeping," said Brooklyn cop Andrew Rydlewski, 29, a married father of two and former Marine.
Many of the cops have military backgrounds, including some who served in Iraq.
"I've been in worse situations than this," said Officer Roland Kitchen, 32, who dodged enemy gunfire in Iraq while in the Army. "This is helping people."
The cops and firefighters were joined by dozens of Metropolitan Transportation Authority buses, piloted by drivers who may help ferry survivors to new homes in far-flung cities.
Bus driver Lester King said he and other drivers from a Brooklyn depot were waiting for orders from a staging area in Birmingham, Ala. "We're trying to do whatever we can to help," said King, 48, of Brooklyn. "That's how we feel about it."
New Yorkis not alone in chipping in with emergency services personnel to help the hurricane victims. Baltimore dispatched 40 firefighters and 28 cops to Gretna, La., after the city's mayor appealed for help, and the Indiana State Police sent troopers to help in Louisiana.
With Lisa L. Colangelo, Robert F. Moore
and Tamer El-Ghobashy
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