3/10/13

Call at 7pm, arrived in hampton, ga around 8:45 pm, 4 clients
then around 10:45 went to east point with 6 clients
return at 1:45 am.

3/8-9/13

call #1 at 16:00, left at 16:45 call in dekalb county
6 units needed assistance
returned at 21:00

call #2 at 21:30
leaft 21:30 return 24:45
in stone mountain

3/6/13

Fire 3 sets of 901
1st client 4 people 2 kids
2nd client 2 people
3rd client 5 people, 2 kids
Norcross GA

Dispatch 13:45, MERV at 14:20, scene 14:40, left 17:46,

IRL Hal

Waited 1+ hour until 19:30 to go to scene, client not there :(.
Return ~20:25

3/1/13

Finished vehicle logs for merv,erv,hummer.

Spent 2 hours on project will record hours. 

2/26/13

Fire this morning
Dispatch at 550
At merv at 615
On scene 645
3 cases 6 clients
Finished at 920
Returned MERV and dropped off casework.
Irl san
Train nat

2/22/13

Just took call until 00:00. Hope to get a few calls.  Just got notification of a flood watch, in theory,  will get called at least once. Hope it goes well. 

Update: No calls good for the clients and the red cross's budget, but caused excessive boredom on my part. Will contact local chapter to see if I can take call during spring break. Registered for shelter simulation. Hope it goes well.

2/21/13

Dispatch called 11:35 pm
Arrived at MERV at 24:00
Client 7 people
Issued:
Lodging 3 nights
Food and Clothing for 7
Bernie IRL arrived 00:07
Finished 02:47

Client in Beauford, GA

When we went to refuel, issued a blanket to a client in need.

Remember fuel cap has a different key! !!

Went to chapter at 4pm to get ID, restocked ERV and MERV, filled up with fuel ERV took about 50 gallons at 1/2 tank!!!!

Recieved call at 6pm, went out to cobb county, 

Irl shirley, returned 8:45

2/20

Fire, family of 6, 1,200 issued. distance 30miles. Issued clothing, food, and housing for 3 days.

Friday Night and Satuday

On friday night we had a call where there was a 8 unit fire.

The fire originated in this unit.

We had 5 volunteers deploy and help with the clients. I was able to help 2 clients receive assistance and issued housing and food. All clients were issued the same, except for the family in the unit that was destroyed. Surprisingly, apart from a smell of smoke, none of the other units were greatly affected except for water and the fire departments need to ensure that the fire was extinguished. The building seemed well built. On Saturday, I went to HQ and received my certification on the ERV see picture.

I also had the great opportunity to take out the Prototype ERV out for a test drive. Quite an amazing piece of equipment and I can see its potential for becoming a valuable asset to the Red Cross disaster services. The following pictures were taken after returning from a call where the client's entire apartment had been destroyed after a fire.

The new erv will also be equipped with emergency lights. This will be another great step forward as this will enable us to work in areas that might normally present a hazard. See video.

The following is a list of my opinions on the new erv:
Pro: Much easier to drive in town and particularly on the highway
       The emergency light are a valuable tool and asset
       The white board will prove to be helpful
       Storage solutions are well designed
       Easy access from the front cab into the body of the erv
       Side door is helpful and allows for easy access
     
Con: No seatbelts for the jump seats in the rear, this is a must!
     

Will update as more thoughts come around.

Firstly How many calls...?

One integral part of being a disaster action team member is experience. One of the first questions you will get asked when responding to a call with unfamiliar team members, is from the IRL (Incident Response Leader), that being how many calls have you gone to. In reality, I haven't really kept track since I have been a trainee. I believe that required 5 calls, then I have been on about 5 for the rest of the year and as of now, I have probably been to a total of 14? This number seems about right and I hope to increase the number of responses I have attended. One of the beauties of being a volunteer in such a large organization is that you gain exposure to a large variety of people. Every time I attend a case, I gain further insight into the client casework process and build upon my previous learning experiences.

The above are some images from my earlier response call's and I hope to continue in recording my experiences for others interested and for my own data log.