So I volunteered to be on call this past weekend. (If you haven't been reading my blog regularly...I'm a Disaster Services Technician - DAT - for the Red Cross). I put myself on the schedule for Saturday morning (12am-6am) and again on Sunday night (10pm-12am)/Monday morning (12am-8am). I will occasionally sign up for the overnight shifts when I see there is only 1 DAT on the schedule or if it's a holiday since coverage sometimes can be light on holidays. Otherwise I generally schedule myself for Thursday evening with another volunteer that is regularly on the calendar Thursday evening and then other times during the week that are light. I have shied away from overnights in the past because I tend to not hear the phone once I go to sleep. Ever since my fire last year though I can no longer sleep through a full night so I decided to go ahead and make myself available overnight when the need is there. I actually enjoy being able to get up in the middle of the night and assist a family in need. I would never wish a disaster on anyone but as I have experienced, disasters don't discriminate. They can happen anytime - day or night.
Anyhoo... back to this weekend. I actually hadn't been to a fire in more than a month or so. Sometimes that's the way it goes and I don't mind because that means it's been quiet and there haven't been many fires in the KC area. This weekend was different though. Probably due to the colder weather arriving. Seems like fires increase at the beginning of cold weather and conversely at the beginning of hot weather. The increased usage of electricity may be the reason since it seems many fires are contributed to being caused by electrical. Other reasons include using alternative forms of heat such as candles, fireplaces, spaceheaters, etc. So, Saturday a.m. fellow volunteer Carl and I responded to a house fire at approximately 5am. The fire occured some time during the overnight and the resident was not home at the time. Fortunately his dog was outside and unharmed. As can be seen from the pictures below, the house was a complete loss. It's always heartbraking to see that happen and even more so when the resident tells you the history behind the house. In this case, the son had inherited the house from his recently deceased mother and was renovating it. It's hard for the family impacted to hold back the tears sometimes and this case was no exception. All I can do as a Red Cross volunteer is reassure them that help is available. That doesn't take away the pain of losing everything though. I know that from first hand experience. I am not sure if that helps or hurts me as a DAT. I sometimes wonder if my experience has changed how I approach my tasks as a DAT. If nothing else I think I am more compassionate because I can relate to the loss they are feeling.
Some calls are a little harder than others to respond to. I struggle whenever a pet is lost in a fire so I was very relieved to hear the owners dog survived the above fire.
Sunday night/Monday morning had Carl and I busy. We were both on the calendar again and responded to 2 different fires. The first fire was a house fire in Raytown, MO. Fortunately for the resident he was able to escape safely as well as get his dogs out safely. Damage was limited to a small portion of the house and he should be able to return to living in the house within a few days. He was in the middle of dinner at the time, heard a strange noise and upon investigation he discovered the fire. He called 911 and used a fire extenguisher to help extenguish the fire. Fire extenguishers can be great tools if you know how to use them properly and know when a fire is too big to knock out yourself. He was smart and got out with his pets instead of trying to be a hero when he realized the fire was bigger than the extenguisher could handle.
The second fire was a house fire on the east side of KC. The house is currently under renovation and is set up to be apartments. 2 young men were living in the house at the time of the fire. They were fortunate in that they were able to get out unharmed. They lost quite a bit of their posssessions though and again that is hard to handle no matter who you are. They were quite humbled though and knew how fortunate they were to get out safely. Below is a picture of that fire. A KC Firefighter was injured when the roof collapsed. Although his injuries are not life threatening, it is a sober reminder of how dangerous fires are and how fortunate we are when we are able to safely escape.
The fires were within hours of each other Sunday pm/Monday am so consequently I didn't get much sleep. By time I got home from the 2nd fire it was dawn and I was too wound up to sleep. That's the downside to responding to disasters, I get wound up and can't sleep afterward which makes taking the overnight shift hard. However, I feel like providing support to others when they need it outweighs the hours of sleep I may lose from time to time. I am proud to volunteer for the Red Cross and hope to do so for many years to come.
