It’s 4:00 am on Friday morning and the decision has been made to respond to the fires in San Diego, California. As of now, the reports are saying 516,653 acres of mountains and homes are on fire. All of these fires are still burning, none of which are contained. The devastation will be great for the people affected by this disaster. Hurricanes, tornados, ice storms and floods will often leave many valuable and sentimental things unharmed but fires consume and destroy everything, leaving families with only memories of what once was.
The last 12 hours have been difficult because the decision to go from New York to California will be costly. It’s a lot easier to respond to a disaster in New Orleans than it is to respond to one all the way across the country. At what point do you take the yellow pads full of crunched numbers, crumple them up, throw them in the garbage and decide that when those families return home to a pile of ashes, we want to be there to help? That time is now.
Thanks to all my friends who encouraged me to respond. To Andy for saying, “Do what you know you’re supposed to do, besides you wouldn’t be happy doing anything else.” To Bobby for saying, “Isn’t this why you started the First Response Team, to help people?” To Steve for saying, “Go with your gut. The worst decision you can make is no decision at all. Fuel that son of a gun up and get out there.” Thank you Tim and Seth for responding within three hours of my request to go and for so many others who encouraged me to go and helpedthe details come together.
We will leave Long Island, New York, in a few hours with a 2007 Sterling truck equipped with a hydraulic crane and crushing head with a capacity to hold 120 yards of disaster debris; two Caterpillar 252B front-end loaders equipped with hydraulic grapple heads, an American Express card and some cash. I’m not sure if passion is enough to get you through life but I’m sure I wouldn’t make it without it.
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