Author: Bill Gabbert

I received a message from Cindy Schiffer, a District Ranger on the George Washington – Jefferson National Forests in Blacksburg, Virginia, explaining that a person who has been on the Type 1 Incident Management Teams in the Southern Geographic Area is volunteering in Haiti assisting victims of the earthquake. Their group is very much in need of medical supplies. Here is the message from Ms. Schiffer:

I just got a call from Peter Dybing. He has worked on both the blue and red teams in supply. He is currently in Haiti, volunteering with St. Croix Rescue. (He lives in the Virgin Islands and is an EMT with St. Croix Rescue.) There is a small group of them – one physician and 6 EMTs, with a few more planning to join them. He said they are treating people in the street who are noncritical patients. He said the hospitals are completely overwhelmed and there are many people in the streets with major wounds and lots of infections (I’ll spare you the details but it is clear that without treatment many of these people could easily slip into critical condition.) They are cleaning the open wounds, treating them with antibiotics, and bandaging them up until they can heal to the point that the wounds can be dealt with in a more permanent manner.

They have run out of medical supplies and are looking for financial support for the incoming staff to bring more supplies with them. They are working with a group whose website is “www.haitisupport.org”. He said the web site isn’t updated to discuss the work they are now doing in Haiti because everyone involved in the organization is now in Haiti trying to help.

There is a place on the web site called “donate now”. I told Peter I would share this need with folks on the teams and on the Forest in case anyone would like to support them by donating to the organization.

Cindy

I replied to Cindy, asking if I could post her message here. I also asked if someone donates by credit card, can the group in Haiti access the money quickly enough to make a difference before some of those minor injuries turn into life-threatening conditions?

Her reply:

I couldn’t answer your question so I called Peter back and I think the info he shared is worth passing to all…Everyone working with him is doing so as a volunteer, no one is receiving any compensation. They are checking the donations to the web site daily and wire transferring the funds to the Dominican Republic. Then they drive over the border about every other day to buy supplies (I would guess that more funds available would probably mean less trips). All the funds go directly to medical supplies or the gasoline to get it – zero overhead or administrative costs. They have set up a field clinic. Many of the wounds are substantial and infected so every hour is critical.

I tested the donation system and sent them a contribution for their “General Fund”. I paid with a credit card, and the system worked very well. This is an excellent way to directly help people, and we know that the medical supplies will not be delayed, siphoned off by corporations, or sit on the tarmac at a tiny overwhelmed airport.

Sometimes the rescuers need to be rescued. Here are some photos uploaded to Flicker by the Los Angeles Fire Department. Apparently Battalion 2’s vehicle became entrapped in a mudflow on January 18, 2010 and had to be extracted by a heavy rescue vehicle from their fire department.

Photos by Ryan Babroff

Here is an excellent 3-minute video that features a very enthusiastic and knowledgeable prescribed burner in Georgia explaining why and how they are conducting multiple prescribed fires “in the four corners of the state”, sometimes with “awesome burn effects”. This footage was shot in Seminole State Park. (no longer available)

The firefighters from the United States that we told you about on January 11 that are assisting the Australians arrived down under on January 15. Their first assignment was to participate in two days of orientation training. The deployment follows an initial visit in December by an international team which spent two weeks developing an action plan. Firefighters from Canada are also assisting the Australians.

An Australian newspaper, The Courier, has an article about the deployment, and interestingly, to me anyway, it has a photo of two of the U.S. firefighters, both of whom I know.

Allen Johnson and I “grew up” on the Cleveland National Forest in southern California, but now he is a district Fire Management Officer on the Stanislaus National Forest in central California. Shane del Grosso works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is the Zone Fire Management Officer for refuges in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Two American forest fire experts are in Ballarat for a month to share their knowledge and boost local firefighting resources.

Shane Del Grosso and Allen Johnson are part of team of 15 forest firefighters from the United States and Canada who arrived in Australia last week and have been deployed across Victoria. The two men have more than 50 years of firefighting experience between them.

Mr Johnson, a District Fire Management Officer from California, said the American and Australian approach to firefighting was similar.

“The fuel type is different, but fire behaviour is basically the same,” he said.

Both Mr Johnson and Mr Del Grosso, a fire behaviour analyst from South Dakota, are regularly deployed to disaster zones across the US in the event of floods, hurricanes and fires.

Mr De Grosso said historically firefighting had come down to neighbours helping neighbours.

“Now its countries helping countries,” he said.

“We can learn from each other and make it very beneficial for both.”

The pair will work on special projects during their time in Ballarat and help out if there’s a bushfire.

Premier John Brumby last week said the group of international firefighters were an important addition to Victoria’s largest ever firefighting effort.

“The Canadians and American experts bring with them a vast knowledge of firefighting and will continue what is an ongoing information exchange on specialist firefighting with our local forces this season,” he said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on her way to attend a conference in Australia and planned to visit with the U.S. firefighters while she was in the country, but she returned to the U.S. after the Haiti earthquake since the United States Agency for International Development, under her jurisdiction in the State Department, has the lead role in managing the U.S. assistance to Haiti following the earthquake.

In February of 2009, 60 U.S. firefighters traveled to Australia to assist with fires; we had an article with photos of some of those firefighters HERE and HERE. And the assistance goes both ways, with about 44 firefighters from Australia and New Zealand coming to the U.S. in July of 2009.

Thanks Dick and Roberta