May 26, 2007 - Greensburg, KS Tornado

It’s 5:00am, and I just arrived in Lancaster, PA, where one of my employees lives. I’m not sure why I’m sitting down to right this blog but I just feel like there is such a need for the type of help I gave Greensburg. I’m not sure if my idea of responding to disasters to open up roads is good enough.

There was such chaos and confusion after the storm. No one could get around; no one could talk to each other because cell phones were down. There was no power, no way to pump water and not even the right equipment to perform rescue operations because the firehouse was destroyed. I think if I’m going to respond to more disasters I need to add some other equipment to the fleet.

Not only do we need the grapple truck and skid steers to open up roads, we also need a generator large enough to power up hospital emergency rooms and nursing homes. When the power lines, phone lines and cell phone towers are down, we need to be able to provide satellite phones and laptops to local officials in order to communicate their needs to the outside world.

I think GMRS/GPS radios would allow us and the local responders to talk with each other to help with a more organized disaster response. I think a dirt bike would serve us well in scouting out the disasters. In fact, a dirt bike equipped with GPS and Sat phones could travel over logs and other debris looking for those who need medical attention in the wake of the storm. I think a dirt bike would be good in flooding situations as well, monitoring levees and alerting communities of potential flash flooding. A water pump and rescue boat would be good to have on hand. From what I see, these fire departments don’t have the budgets to have specialized equipment like this on hand.

It’s hard to rest after seeing what I have. I didn’t want to leave Greensburg but I think it was good I did. It’s going to take some thought into putting together this first response team, but I think I should take some of these ideas and do something about them. The need is there, and I think I can help.