I was in the Dallas area this weekend at a singles conference with my church, when an announcement was made on Sunday they were looking for volunteers to help out at Red Cross chapters/shelters for Hurricane Gustav relief efforts.
A few dozen people showed interest, and I hooked up with some friends with a car, and we drove down to the Dallas Chapter of the Red Cross.
We left around 4:30pm and got there sometime after 5pm.
I went in one of the meeting rooms that looked like it was setup like an EOC with table stations around the room and coded-signs above the stations.
We checked in, and then suddenly one of the women in charge announced that she needed volunteers right away to help setup a headquarters and ‘pull CAT-5 cable.”
Some of use joined in, and we gathered in the parking lot and were to follow a big equipment truck about 35 miles away to the new headquarters location.
I learned that they were rapidly outgrowing their available space and had to go to a new location.
(I did run into another Red Cross volunteer who was a Ham - callsign embroidered to his shirt - and we exchanged brief ’shop-talk’ comments about what model radio we used, as we were getting into vehicles.)
(I had actually brough a handful of FRS radios in my luggage, which I got out and gave to the drivers of the volunteers, so we could stay in touch while caravaning to the new location.)
We were following the IT guys who had computer equipment and a server.
We were in Dallas and made our way to just West of Fort Worth.
After searching for the right address location upon arrival, we were told that we would be in an empty warehouse ‘over there’, which used to be a Wal-Mart. I later found out that Red Cross has a standing nationwide agreement with Wal-Mart, who will provide resources like supplies or available unused buildings, in case of emergency need. Now I know how Red Cross gets all their supplies so quickly!
We got inside the warehouse, which was completely empty and a little dusty, and talked about the game plan.
First we unloaded the cargo truck, which had lots of equipment in Pelican cases of various sizes and colors.
All the cases were coded, like CBL-049 for a network cable kit, or ATT-051 for something like ATT cell phones or IP phones or something.
I was impressed by the organization seen in their inventory; seems like the Red Cross has caches of equipment in distribution warehouses or something.
We had over a hundred Dell laptops, all in multiple Pelican cases.
Each laptop had a ziplock bag with mouse, mousepad, power cord, etc.
You’ll see a picture of a portable server in two pelican cases.
It was mounted inside the case with what looked like rubber isolation mounting or something.
Some people set up the “VSAT”. There was a dish placed outside which I didn’t see, and the controller computer in orange cases ( I think I attached a picture).
One of the cases had “WLNK” on it, which I confirmed stood for Win-Link, which someone said was the accepted standard or something. I would have wanted to learn more how they used that.
There were “Cable Kits”, “Power strip kits” (handfulls of power strips), Extension cable kits, etc. The cable kit had lots of CAT-5 cables of various lengths in it.
I think we had 6 to 8 network switches in a few cases as well.
The Response Technology person had a sketched map of where to place the tables for the various departments or stations.
There were interesting Red Cross protocols also.
First, all cables were to be suspended so there would be now trip-hazards. Strong wire would be hung between the vertical load-bearing poles of the warehouse, and the power cords and network cables would be hung from them. The went to the store to buy plastic shower-curtain hangers to run the cables though.
CAT-5 cables were not to run underneath the table legs, but along the outside of the legs and twist-tied together. Cables run under table legs could cause problems in case you wanted to move a computer or a table quickly.
I had to string out some cable from the VSAT to the Server, and they said to run a second “B” line for redundancy in case of failure. We also labeled the ends for the A and B cables, but not too close to the end, about 2 feet from the end - in case it had to be re-terminated then you wouldn’t have to cut off the label also.
I was impressed at the workload assignments. When asked if anyone had experience terminating cable, two raised their hands, and they were Not chosen. Everything had special instruction sheets, and those with no experience were chosen for the task. I saw how the Red Cross understands the majority of their workers would be volunteers with unrelated experience, and they take this into account, and assign two or three people to a task (not too many which creates confusion), give them instructions, and let them go. I saw how they had faith in the volunteer to get the job done.
We ended at 10pm sharp, since they had a new rule that nobody would work ‘all night long’. Some people would return in the morning at 8am to continue the work, but I had to return with my friends to the hotel.
It was a neat to see how the Red Cross deployed, their organized inventory methods, their wisdom in network setup, and trust and reliance on the volunteer to get the job done.
It’s good that GUSTAV was only at a Category 2 when it hit land, although I hear that power and communication lines are still down.
Oh, lastly, some funny lessons I learned:
- Keep a change of clothes in a separate spot (or ziplock bag) aside from my vacation clothes. I hadn’t brought any work pants, like BDUs, and wish I had. All the clothes in my luggage were dirty and wished I had a clean pair!
- Have reliable navigation and power at all times. Though I had brought my car gps unit with me, the battery was old and couldn’t run long without plugging in.
- Have an emergency fund in case of things. I had to spend extra money getting another room at the hotel and changing my flight itinerary, but I felt it was worth it to spend the money and serve in this way, and I could afford the extra costs.
TT
I had a great trip to Chicago, IL, and New York, NY over the 2008 holidays, and yes, I was in Times Square on New Year's Eve. It was fun being in the wind and cold and experience what a real winter is like compared to CA. Riding the subways was a blast.
After my experiences with the hurricanes in the gulf, I decided to join the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross. I joined the Communications team which uses amateur and commercial frequencies and systems to help with chapter operations, specifically, radio communications from remote shelters back to headquarters. I also recently joined the Disaster Action Team (DAT) to be available for 24-hour call-outs to assist clients, for example, if a residential fire displaces a family.
