GQ Gentleman's Ball - New York City

October 27, 2010

Tim and Tad are just arriving in NYC for the GQ Gentleman’s Ball. It’s such an honor to have been chosen to be in the top five men that make the world a better place by GQ. These other guys do amazing work and we are so excited to meet them. It's going to be so much fun to meet some of the stars as well! Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Chace Crawford, Nick Cannon, B.O.B., Adrian grenier and David Arquette will be here.

Thanks GQ for the amazing opportunity. I hope it allows many more to learn more about the First Response Team of America and encourages others to join our cause to help our neighbors in need.

Photo by Patrick McMullan Company

September 30, 2010 - Floods in Wilmington & Windsor, NC

A few days ago we got word from Dr. Greg Forbes that there was a chance for severe flooding in Wilmington, NC. We left immediately and arrived in Wilmington just before the rains were expected to arrive. The main fire department downtown welcomed us with open arms.

It’s always nice to be welcomed by big cities. You just never know whether or not they will want a hand, since many of them have big budgets, paid firefighters on staff and equipment to boot. But, similar to the floods earlier this year in Cranston, Rhode Island, they invited us to help.

It was nice; we were given our own room and the opportunity to cook a few meals with the fire fighters. We waited in Wilmington for two days while the storm hammered the city, but, there were no calls for rescues.

Then, we received an email from Dr. Forbes..."head north," he said, "there is going to be a small city by the name of Windsor that is going to get hit badly; they have a swamp in the surrounding areas with a river that will really cause some flooding.” We shook hands with the Wilmington Fire Department, thanked them for their hospitality and headed out.

When we arrived in Windsor, we were able to help with water rescues through the night until state water rescue teams arrived the next day.

Second Oil Spill Video Blog

Here's our second video blog from Louisiana!

In this blog, the team cleans oil off beaches at Grand Isle, lives on-board a jack-up barge, and cleans oil off islands in Bay Chaland.



On July 26, the Team left Delta Marina in Empire, LA and is currently preparing for the oncoming hurricane season.

Thanks for the support and stay tuned for the latest news...

First Oil Spill Video Blog

Here's our first video blog from the Gulf oil spill clean up!

It's a glimpse of what we've been doing out here for the last two months. Tim produced it and our newest member Chris edited it together. We have another blog coming soon. It will show what we were doing on Grand Isle.

Let us know what you think!

Stay tuned and thanks for all the support!

July 11, 2010 - Gulf Oil Spill Disaster - Barrier Islands

The fight continues in the Gulf. We stepped out for two days and the Team flew with Tad to Washington D.C. for the National Jefferson Award ceremony at the National Building Museum. Tad, the founder of the Team, was honored with the National Jefferson Awards’ highest honor for the Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 or Younger. Considered the “Nobel Prize for Public Service,” the awards annually celebrate America’s commitment to giving back and contributing toward the larger good. Others who received awards for their contribution to public service were New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker; Goodwill Industries CEO Jim Gibbons; Partners in Health founder Paul Farmer; Oakland Raiders football player Nnamdi Asomugha and Charlotte Bobcats basketball player Tyrus Thomas.

Three weeks prior, the Team began an aggressive initiative to clean up the beaches of Louisiana. Of course, we chose the hardest ones to start out. They are called the Barrier Islands, and they are located at the southern most tip of LA. These Islands were built many years ago to hold back the ocean from taking over the marshes and grass lands of LA. When you stand on them, on one side you have the ocean and on the other side you have the wetlands, which are full of beautiful tall grasses, fish and wildlife.

Though it seemed impossible to get all of our equipment to these islands, we knew when the oil would come, it would come here first and these islands are the first defense for all of the marshes. If we could capture the oil there, we could protect our beaches, birds, fish and marshes. We knew we had to try, and we did.

The only way to get our gear to the Islands was by a large barge heavy enough to hold all of our gear, but able to go through shallow water. To make things even more difficult we had to find a barge with a crane that would be able to lift our equipment from the boat onto the beaches of the islands.

Well...we found one...and we also found ourselves in the middle of severe weather including a hurricane, tornados, lighting, wind and rain. Many times we had to abandon ship and take speedboats to shelters. One time the rain was coming so fast and hard we took a small boat and fled to a nearby abandoned home that stood in the middle of the marshes. The currents at times were so bad we had to tie 4 boats together, and fight against the stream just to keep from washing out into the Gulf.

Nevertheless, the Team made it after 4 days. We quickly unloaded our beach clean up gear, which was donated by Terex, and got to work. Due to the wet and marshy conditions we brought in heavy haul hydraulic loaders, dump trucks, and trailers, which were all equipped with Low Ground Pressure Amphibious Tracks. These allow us to go over grasses without destroying them or into four feet of water without getting stuck. We also brought in light towers, enabling us to work at night, dozer blades, 6 foot steel rakes and special hydraulic powered drum rakes, which allow us to cut off a layer of the beach and find the oil underneath the sand.

This all may sound boring, but to keep it simple....the tide brings in oil...but...it also brings in sand which covers the oil. We have to find the oil and the only way to do that is when the tide is low, peel back the beach and find it, suck it up and remove it from the islands. This needs to be done and it needs to be done quickly.

The days are now starting to get long. We start at 3 a.m. and don’t get back till around 10 at night. The team is exhausted from the sun that blasts down on the beach. The work is hard, but the need to get this done drives us.

We feel as if we are standing in the shoes of millions of Americans who would love to be here and save their homeland, but cannot.

In the next few days we are going to start staying on a ship that is docked near the islands. The ship will be parked close enough to the island so that we can jump on our hovercraft and get some food and a few hours of sleep here and there. The boat captain was more than happy to help us. He says there are some bunks on which we can crash whenever we need and his cook will be sure to have food in the kitchen when we need it. It will be fun; the Team has never lived on a ship before.

Though we are exhausted and the work ahead seems endless, we know the good people of southern LA have not even recovered from Katrina. Now, this. Everything informs me they are good, sincere and loving people. We will stand with them through this as long as funding allows us.

We have told the local officials in Plaquemines Parish that we will serve alongside them until the next major hurricane. We have our response fleet parked at a Peterbilt Dealer near-by and are committed to responding to the next major hurricane for rescue and response operations. But, until then, we are here and we will help.

I hope for better days ahead for the state. God knows they need it.

June 27, 2010 - Gulf Oil Spill Disaster

It’s been a busy year starting with Haiti, then onto the floods in Rhode Island, tornadoes in Mississippi and Alabama, floods in Nashville and now the Gulf Oil Spill. We are accustomed to dealing with earthquakes, floods and tornadoes, but when the Gulf Disaster began, the Team questioned whether or not they should get involved, but knew the only way to find out was to get on the ground and see for ourselves.

We were given a warm welcome by Lt. General Russel Honoré and The National Guard and immediately were asked to support the Guard in the construction of tiger dams. Water pumps are used to create dams and we have high-powered water pumps that were able to double the production of the building process. We also have a tremendous amount of low ground pressure equipment able to work on the soft sandy beaches and marshy wetlands. In most situations, with the tides coming in and out most wheeled machines and vehicles would simply sink so our gear was the best for this situation in moving the pumps and setting the dams along the shoreline of LA.

The purpose of these dams is to create a wall about 20 feet from the shore line. Because the oil is here and is being pushed onto the beaches by the waves, the walls keep the oil on a small portion of the beach instead of the whole beach allowing a small area where the oil can be cleaned up and removed.

Over the past 6 weeks, the Team has worked tirelessly fighting the good fight. I remember clearly the day when the oil landed on our beaches. The waves became red and the white sand turned black. That day was very emotional, and I could not figure out exactly why. So much of the devastation we encounter regularly includes a tremendous loss of life. Though 11 workers were killed on the oil rig, on that day we were grieving our homeland being invaded by oil. The emotional response was unexpected, and I fear the worst is still to come.

We as American people really have no answers. No one really knows when the well will be capped, if the relief wells they are trying to drill will work, how much oil is spewing into our Gulf daily, how large the plumes are moving like submarines below the surface of our waters and where the currents will take them. What are the long-term effects and could this go down as the worst oil spill in the history of our world?

With all that said, is everything that could be done being done? I think the answer is no. I think the disaster is so large that no one wants to take responsibility for it. This 20 Billion dollar fund is based on what figures? All I know is what I see on the front lines everyday. And what I see is not much.

I believe more can be done and if the opportunity arises or if the Team can create the opportunity, we will. Another fear we face is the imminent hurricane season that is upon us. It was already predicted to be a severe year, but what will the effect be of oil being picked up from the ocean and tossed over our houses, roads and fields. I fear this could become some of our worst nightmares.

Until then, we prepare and work hard daily, looking for solutions and making a difference.

April 3, 2010-Cranston, Rhode Island - Flooding

A few weeks ago some of the U.S. Team members returned from Haiti to begin training and preparing the U.S. fleet for the 2010 storm season. Preparedness for us covers FEMA certifications, first aid, swift water and ice rescue training and continually running and servicing all of our equipment so it is ready at a moment’s notice.

Though the team is still working in Haiti clearing rubble from streets and home sites, we have to be ready and able to respond to the potential floods and tornadoes that will strike early spring and summer in the States. Sure enough, we finished our training just in time.

A few days ago we heard that Rhode Island was going to be in the path of some severe weather in the form of heavy rains and floodwaters. As we worked with some of the best meteorologists in the country we realized Cranston, Warwick and East Warwick were going to get slammed by the worst flooding in 100 years. At first the Pawtuxet River, running through Cranston, was supposed to rise 9 feet above flood stage. To our surprise, it crested at 20.79 feet, 12 feet above flood stage.

We arrived just as the river was about to crest. The team introduced themselves to Chief Gumbley, the Fire Chief for the City of Cranston, RI. After we explained we were there to assist him with water rescues using a hovercraft, free of charge, and it was outside all ready to be deployed, he said, “Ok, let’s do this.”

The calls were coming in left and right, and there was not much time to lose. The chief called for his assistant to work with us for the next 48 hours and respond to any calls that came in having to do with water rescues or water hazards.

Our first task was to inspect factories and office buildings that were along the river that were completely flooded. The water rose so quickly that people could have been caught in the buildings. After that, we received a call about a fully loaded tractor-trailer that was floating down the river headed toward the bridge that connected Cranston and Warwick. The only way to stop it was to cut a hole in the side of the rig, fill it with water and sink it. Throughout the next few days we had calls ranging from people trying to evacuate from their homes with rubber rafts getting caught up in the current to a man rowing out into the bay trying to commit suicide. We also were able to save many animals. At one point Tim had to swim into a home that was mostly under water to save some cats.

I must say I think the most moving event of this response was flying through a neighborhood transporting a citizen and the fire chief to find someone’s cat. As we were flying over the flooded streets, I watched this young man in horror as he saw his brand new truck floating down the street toward the river. He held his head as he saw his home for the first time completely destroyed. He cried and explained he thought his cat would be in the bottom room of his house. At the time we did not have much hope that the cat would be alive but we broke the window and swam in anyway. Sure enough, there was the cat, floating on top of a bucket in the closet.

At that moment the Team and the homeowner forgot about all that was lost and how terribly the storm ravaged everything. At that point all that mattered was that everyone, including the animals were safe. We are always reminded in the most difficult times in life, what really matters. I don’t mean to forsake all that happened in Rhode Island that was terrible, but for a small moment in time, life was put in perspective.