On September 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida. Since then, Helene has swept across the Southeast, destroying homes, and leaving many towns without water and electricity. According to NBC News, more than 200 people have died due to the destruction caused by the storm.
Since the Hurricane, first responders have been on the frontlines helping affected people, removing debris, providing food and water, and medical assistance. And many first responders from states like Alabama, New Jersey, and New York crossed state lines to help others.
But the important work that first responders do doesn’t start when a hurricane strikes. First responders work tirelessly to ensure that many preparations are made before a natural disaster strikes. Here’s what it’s like to be, and be, a first responder.
Before the storm
Volunteer first responders through Team Rubicon, a nonprofit organization focused on disaster response, began preparing for Hurricane Helene in early May. However, they train throughout the year to ensure they are ready for any disaster that may occur.
The organization regularly conducts what they call a “tabletop exercise” where all volunteers learn their role in the coming months. During this exercise, they also plan the procedures for the next few months, from communication to equipment to training.
When first responders begin training they often choose which field of work they are most interested in. For example, first responders can learn how to work with fire departments, how to use heavy equipment like chainsaws, or how to provide medical aid.
“I like to use sports analogies, that in every emergency management plan, you can’t put together a winning team on game day,” said Art delaCruz, CEO of Team Rubicon. “You have to practice, you have to train, you have to gather the right people to do it.”
A typical day as a first responder
DelaCruz explains that his team lives by the saying: “Do what you do best and get the rest out.” For this reason, Team Rubicon volunteers often perform tasks such as making sure the roads are clear for other first responders, emergency responders, and delivering supplies.
Recently, Team Rubicon volunteers cleared more than 20 acres of paved roads, the equivalent of 16 football fields, 10,000 cubic yards, and “1,050 dump trucks” worth of debris, according to delaCruz.
When not in the field, first responders often sleep on cots in high school gymnasiums, camp on the side of roads, or live in their trucks.
First responder groups often have programs in place to establish a sense of camaraderie and promote safety. This ranges from holding a safety briefing before each work site to a discussion about each day and what they encountered.
“We talk about it internally like a campfire where we can sit … and share the news of the day,” explains Jacob Nilz, senior training assistant at Team Rubicon. Nilz emphasizes how important it is for the mental health of first responders to share stories, process traumatic events they’ve witnessed and “release the mental and emotional stuff that we deal with every day.”
Each team of first responders has an experienced team leader with them and a medical person. They emphasize the idea that each person is a safety officer and all team members are meant to cope and keep each other safe.
Range of first responders
While Team Rubicon focuses on street cleaning, other types of first responders focus on providing essential goods and services to people who have experienced natural disasters.
Dr. Parinda Khatri, CEO of Cherokee Health Systems in Knoxville, Tennessee says the storm left many without water and medical supplies.
Khatri says the municipal water supply in Knoxville, Tennessee has run out and she was told it could be two or three weeks before it is restored. “Our team visited 12 grocery stores and found 200 or 300 cases of water, which ended at 11:30 yesterday,” he said. The community is also running out of medical supplies, Khatri said, noting that only their pharmacy in Newport is under water.
Some first responders, such as those who work with Direct Relief, a non-profit organization that provides medical supplies during emergencies, try to send medical backpacks to help with some of these problems.
Many Hurricane Helene survivors and first responders are also having trouble communicating because cell phone coverage is down in many rural areas.
The Footprint Project, an organization dedicated to providing communities with clean energy in times of crisis, sent first responders to distribute portable batteries and solar power. So far the Footprint Project has distributed batteries that help run oxygen tanks at a health and rehabilitation center, as well as three mobile communities without power or water. For one community that depends on well water, the Footprint Project provided tangible energy to help get the well working again.
Together, these diverse first responders work tirelessly to help people get the services and safety they need. Next, communities will begin to rebuild.
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