October 28, 2007 - San Diego Wildfires

We arrived in San Diego, California at 5:00 this morning. On the trip out we discovered that San Diego County had the most devastation compared to the rest of Southern California so we decided that would be a good place for us to start. We drove straight through – seventy-two hours later we are here, and we are safe. We quickly determined that the most devastated and poverty stricken area is a mountain community called Ramona. For the first time in my life I saw vast mountains, once full of lush green trees and beautiful homes, reduced to nothing but rock, dirt and ashes.

We met with a man who owned a large avocado and palm tree farm. It was astonishing to look up at the mountain full of scorched trees. I did not know what to say to the man. He had his hands on the side of his truck, looking up at what was once his beautiful farm. Seth put it best…”What do you say?”

We will seek out those who are in need. Our next stop is the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and many other humanitarian organizations that are descending on this area to help. We are the only ones who have responded with heavy equipment and cranes. If any of these organizations need assistance with accessing closed areas with food, water, and nurses we will help make a way. After that we will seek out those who have experienced total loss, have no insurance or are under insured. There is much to do here.

October 26, 2007 - San Diego, CA Wildfires

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.

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.

May 24, 2007 - Greensburg, KS Tornado

Can you imagine what it would be like to be Mennonite? They have no conventional insurance. Their houses, barns, farms, equipment and cars are insured by each other. When they get sick, they care for each other. When they get old, they care for each other. So, if you were a Mennonite who lived in Greensburg, what would your new life be like after the storm?

Well I’ll give you just one example. One farmer of lost everything he owned – his home, his barns, $700,000 worth of farm equipment and his trucks. What happened next is still hard for me to believe. His fellow Mennonites came. They came with tractors, they came with trucks. They came with food and found housing for him and his family. They took down his old house and are presently making preparations for the new one.

How do I know this? I had an opportunity to work side by side with these men. It would take too long to write about everything I have seen, but I can tell you this: They came into that city from hundreds of miles away with whatever equipment they had on their farm to help anyone in need. They were organized, writing up work order after work order, supplying their own food, fuel and shelter. Why? Because that is what they call community.

I am planning on leaving soon. It is a hard decision to make – partially because I have grown to love the people here, but also because I’ve enjoyed being with the Mennonites.

May 23, 2007 - Greensburg, KS tornado

Today I received a phone call that encouraged me beyond words. It was from a group of men whom I respect as expert truck builders. One reason I know they’re good is because they have enough patience to deal with all my phone calls when I have technical questions about my crane, day or night.

Nevertheless, Disaster Recovery Solutions’ First Response Team’s strongest asset is their state of the art equipment. It takes a large team of experts to put together these trucks as well as a facility that would make the GM plant look like a hot dog stand.

The men involved are Rodney, Bob, Dean, Daryl, Bill and Mike from V&H Trucks. All of these men play a key role in developing equipment and keeping them running. What touched me so greatly is these men called me and expressed interest in supporting the First Response Team. Unfortunately, neither they nor I know in what capacity they can help. This is my first trip responding to a disaster. Daryl has offered to fly in and help for a few days and has even gone so far as to collect money for our fuel. But what was so touching is that they simply wanted to help.

Thank you, V&H. Thank you for the trucks you have built for me already, and thanks for expressing an interest in being involved.

Thank you Rodney for taking care of the details. Thank you Bob for helping me spec out new equipment and keep them going. Thank you Dean for finding me the best financing. And thank you Daryl, Bill, and Mike for keeping the cranes going.

May 22, 2007 - Greensburg, KS Tornado

If you were given a choice to take one thing before you left your house for the last time, what would it be? It could be a difficult question for some but for others it would be easy. For me, I would have to say pictures.

Today as I was ripping houses apart wall by wall with the Prentice loader and tossing them to the streets as if throwing a baseball, I saw many things. Kitchens with once-new appliances, offices with nice desks, and closets full of clothes. At one point, I ripped a whole floor up with one grab, and there below lay a beautiful train set in perfect condition. Most people stood and watched as if they knew it was coming, just like putting the trash to the curb as they do every Wednesday.

But…………there below deep in a basement I could see from 20 feet above……….a picture album. With precision I reached down with the crane, barely grabbed the edges of the album, and lifted it out of the basement. As I placed it on the driveway, the homeowner ran over, grabbed the album and held it close to his chest as if he had found his lost puppy. I sat on the crane in amazement as I looked down on him.

A few hours later, I parked the crane for the night, and at the end of the block I could see an elderly man and woman rummaging through what was left of their house. I introduced myself and let them know I was the one who removed their house and hauled it to the road. As they thanked me, I saw out of the corner of my eye another photo album in a 12-foot hole where the foundation of the house once stood.

What happened next amazed me. Without hesitation, this very old man quickly made his way down the vertical dirt wall, sliding, falling into this deep hole. Within seconds he was standing over the photos, calling up to his wife and telling her of his newfound treasure.

I have no words except to say I don’t understand what these people are going through. I can honestly say to you, I don’t understand. I’ve tried but the fact is I have lost nothing. What are they thinking, how do they feel, and what do they do next?

I keep thinking I’m going to leave because the expenses are too much for me to handle, and the wear and tear on my equipment is too great but I can’t go just yet. There are still more people to help, and I can help with my equipment. If this were my home or my community, I would want help.

Today was my birthday.

May 21, 2007 - Greensburg, KS Tornado

Today started out feeling like a regular day for some reason. I was helping someone who had no insurance clean up their property. As I was finishing, I noticed there were dozens of orange state and county trucks lined up on the sides of the roads. Apparently there was only one front-end loader available to load the trucks with debris. I asked who was in charge of all the trucks, and a man in a pickup truck explained he was the supervisor. I asked if I could help load the trucks, and he said yes.

So I looked for the biggest piles of debris I could find and began to load one truck up after another. It was going so fast that trucks from all over the city started to come to get loaded so they could haul debris out of town to the dumps. One after another, it was only taking me about two minutes to load each truck. Because the crane sits so much higher than a front-end loader, I could see over the truck beds and really pack it in.

At one point there were so many trucks lined up behind me that I did not want to take the time to move forward to the next pile so I started pulling debris out of what was in my truck box. I loaded 10 trucks with what was in half of my truck. It was amazing to me how much larger my truck was than those traditional trucks.

The day ended unexpectedly with something I think I will remember for the rest of my life. A group of citizens and volunteers went out to dinner at a restaurant 40 miles outside of town. Throughout the dinner everyone was talking and laughing, and I could not help but sit back and watch people who have lost so much laugh…and laugh really hard. I’m still amazed that in the midst of all this loss people can still be thankful.