When a Storm Event Hits

1/4/2021 (Permalink)

When a storm event hits, like a major fire, flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, or freezing weather, it can take us almost anywhere in the country. Most fires in the past year have been along the west coast but can show up elsewhere. A lot of hurricanes have hit along the east and south-east coast, but we also learned that hurricane-force winds and rain can also hit in the middle of nowhere, like the Derecho in August 2020. We also helped out with flash flooding up north in the Wisconsin area, as well as severe freezing in the Massachusetts area. There were also a couple of times we almost left to go help out outside the country.

As you can probably guess, there are many struggles with going to work in these disaster zones. One of these examples would be that trying to get into the area can take some work. Depending on the type and severity of the disaster, airports in the area may not be open. So, unless you’re driving straight from your home town to the area, you could be forced to fly into an airport that is a couple hours away.

Same goes for getting hotels close by. If a hurricane hits a big area and causes a lot of damage to residential homes, chances are the hotels outside of the disaster zone will fill up quickly with people who can’t live in their homes. So, unless we get really lucky, most of the time we have to stay at a hotel around an hour away. Because of this, it adds a ton of driving time for the day. It also means we have to leave the hotel early, work a full day (which is, on average, 10-12 hours), then drive back to the hotel. While yes, traveling to various areas can be fun and interesting, most trips are very busy and very exhausting. But these trips aren’t supposed to be a vacation. The whole point of traveling is to work and to help out as many people as we can.