OC Incident 29: From Novice CDO's Perspective

After a quiet holiday break, the first disaster call of 2010 came in at 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday night. I am one of the chapter‘s AmeriCorps members and was on my first rotation as the acting chapter duty officer (CDO).
Over a static-choked connection, I scribbled out the details from Louisville onto an empty shelf in Wal-Mart‘s home wares aisle.

As the call center relayed particulars, a picture of crowds in pajamas and buildings ablaze began to emerge on the paper a description of an apartment fire, possible involving eight to ten units, with unknown family sizes.

An omen of the confusion to follow; Louisville gave the contact number for the incident as multiple police officers and departments. The openendedness of the details left room for speculation that things were changing faster than the flow of information could accommodate.

Remembering the words of advice from the professionals on staff at the chapter, I tried to remain calm and patient as I left the checkout line to my girlfriend and headed to the car where my re-source handbook and blank notepad were waiting.

Before I could locate a field supervisor, there were five different reports from the scene. With each call – from the on-scene police officers, to the fire battalion chief, to the three separate calls from the after-hours center – the situation seemed to grow by leaps and bounds. Within 25 minutes the incident rose from eight apartments to 20 – wait, no! 40; yes, 47 apartments, with unknown occupancy numbers or family sizes.

As a master‘s student and a high-seas sailor, I am no stranger to the need to remain calm in rapidly deteriorating and uncertain circumstances, yet I couldn‘t help but ponder how I had once again managed to put myself into such a predicament.

With no way home but into the distant unknown, I began recalling the words of advice and gems of information that I‘d been trying to collect over the past five months.

Now the moment was upon me, and the advice that had been echoed by Michael and Ray and Bill and Stanley over the past few weeks quickly sank in; ―Remember; everyone wants to be called. That‘s why they‘re on the list. So it was with resolve and focus that I began the process of locating a response team and equipping them with the information to help those in need.

The position of ―Field Supervisor was accepted by Austin Miller, a seasoned Red Cross volunteer, who would serve as the eyes and ears at the scene for the remainder of the event.

Photographer for photo Daniel Cima/American Red Cross