Hurricane Volunteer Lessons
By Jack Morris from The Professional Citizen Project
*The following 2 articles from my friend Jack Morris are being shared with his permission*
PART 1…
I recently returned from an unfortunately short volunteer trip to the Helene destruction zone. I wanted to pass along some thoughts from a wholly amateur perspective, I am not a trained search and rescue or an experienced post-disaster recovery volunteer. The only experience I have with organized disaster recovery is going to the weeklong certification course FEMA runs for the Army; the one that covers processes and rules for employing Title X assets in support of civil authorities. That course and a few weeks of doing so for real when my unit supported some smaller scale disasters on the east coast several years ago. But nothing like Helene.
This is written purely from a novice level; this is for individual self-deployers going into a situation like this. These are simply some thoughts based on this limited experience and the information that has come out from the volunteer recovery effort.
A few general comments:
1. The local churches and volunteer groups are the center of gravity for the recovery effort. 80 year old grandmothers helping hand out supplies at the small churches along the banks of the streams that cut through the narrow valleys and draws (“hollers” if you listen close enough). Groups of men and women from the churches that were more concerned with how their neighbors were doing than their own problems, making supply runs with ATVs and helping distribute the flow of donations.
2. The culture of the Southern Appalachians is making all the difference, by having cohesive communities they are able to work together and integrate relief supplies and volunteers to assist. The people in the western NC mountains are resilient beyond words. I grew up in that mountain range, albeit slightly farther north in VA. I understand the culture and the terrain that this event happened on, while the destruction was surprising the reaction of the locals was not. The self-reliance and sense of community is making the seemingly insurmountable task achievable. The locals emerged from the wreckage and got to work figuring it out.
3. The destructive power of fast-moving water cannot be understood until you see it in person. Steel I beams rapped around trees and paved roads that no longer exist because the asphalt was lifted and washed away. It is surreal.
4. Intelligence drives operations. This military truth applies to rescue and disaster recovery missions as well. The lack of information (much less synthesized intelligence) is the reason people cannot be reached in a timely manner, or supplies cannot be distributed efficiently. Alternate communications are a key component to this, spotty info is mostly a result of comms issues. There is a lot more to peel back on this subject and it is beyond the scope of this newsletter. But we should acknowledge having a large-scale effort without focused intel or a common operational picture makes an already difficult task exponentially harder. Again, Intelligence drives operations.
5. Tracked equipment, SxS (“side by sides”), and ATVs are invaluable in the compartmentalized terrain. Blade assets (helicopters) are even more crucial, especially in the early stages.
Self-deploying Volunteers
Remember you are walking into chaos. Chaos not only caused by the disaster itself and the aftermath, but confusion and misdirection brought on by numerous organizations operating inside the same battlespace. There are countless volunteer groups working in the area (this will apply to any large disaster). Some of these groups are well-funded and well-organized with dozens of deployments under their belt; they remain for the duration of the recovery effort as long as they are needed. Some are small groups that deploy for a couple of days and then return home. There are large national level government and pseudo government organizations in the area as well as state, local, and county officials. Everyone is convinced they are in charge, and in some small way they are all correct.
1. Rule 1 as a self-deployer is to help at least one person. Use that as your mission statement going in and you will not be disappointed with what you do or do not accomplish during your time there. We are all human; you see this unfold and may become frustrated by what you can’t give or do. Maybe you don’t own and fly your own helicopter or have a 16 man tree cutting service with heavy equipment you can take along with you. It doesn’t matter - carrying cases of water for the small church in the valley means just as much. We all want to be heroes in the fight - the lone search and rescue volunteer doing work while still finding time to recover the sole tattered US flag in the debris. Or envisioning yourself humping a Starlink for miles to a remote mountain family who has not had contact in 7 days. Some of that stuff happens, hell a lot of that kind of stuff happens. But the majority of the work is going to be the seemingly mundane activities that helps folks out. Remember everything that gets done matters, and we are there for the community - not our egos.
2. If you are a self-deploying volunteer or a part of an outside small group you must be self-sustaining. Be part of the solution and not part of the problem for the community. Arrive with a full tank of fuel and enough shelter, food, and water to get you through the days you plan to stay and work. You have to do this without consuming resources that could otherwise be used by members of the community.
3. Don’t look for some group or individual to give you permission. This is of your own accord…go find work. If you coordinate with a group already on the ground that may work out for you, but sometimes they have all the people they need and are not looking for additional folks to integrate. Look at from their perspective, you are an unknown to them and the time it takes to onboard may be a distraction to their mission. Sometimes groups look for specific volunteers, especially ones with skillsets in high demand. If you are a ham radio dude with kit you will always be in high demand. And remember the earlier you deploy after the causal event the less mature these systems will be on the ground and the more freedom of maneuver you will have.
4. As we pass information by any means (face to face, radio, social media) use a modified SALUTE report (the SALT-A format below). It doesn’t have to be a formal report, but it should include those elements. This shortfall was most evident before going to the zone; trying to find info was like pulling teeth. IG, fB, and X feeds were packed with photos, videos, and “they need __” anecdotes but there was no real substance. We have to remember that a post we throw up on social media gets a lot of eyeballs, there may be someone who sees it that can tap into an asset or provide assistance. But it is posted with no location, no DTG (date time group), POC, etc so there was no way to know if it is still valid (or ever was). Organizations may have their own reporting formats and requirements, this is just “A” way.
5. This next point is more on the long term volunteer or social media posting side of the equation, but as with the SALT-A report there is a responsibility to provide as much info as possible when asking for assistance. I stumbled on an outstanding example of a request for assistance on social media, this post was on Stateofappalachia’s IG account. Note all the elements in the concise post below. This is a great example (PPE requirement notwithstanding) of how to do it:
6. Be safe. Your family needs you back at home when you are done, come home healthy and with all your limbs intact. Chainsaws, skid steers, and ATVs don’t have a conscience, they don’t give a damn who they hurt. If you are working around heavy equipment stay out of range of buckets and arms and never stand behind a working machine. Get the operators acknowledged attention if you need to go anywhere near him. Yeah I know…this sounds like basic level amateur stuff that shouldn’t have to be mentioned to adults. But an accident can happen so fast it isn’t funny, especially when people who aren’t used to working with each other come together. Bring proper PPE with you. If you bring a chainsaw have a helmet, face shield, eye and ear pro as well as safety chaps. There literally is no 911, the last thing a group of volunteers needs to deal with is a double tourniqueted chainsaw victim they have to carry over two ridgelines. The flood waters carry all kinds of nasty pathogens that get left in the mud which turns to dirt and then dust. Take a respirator at a minimum, the home improvement stores sell them along with replacement filters. Gloves, rubber boots, eyes, ears etc. Larger volunteer groups may or may not be willing to supply you with 3M coveralls, if so definitely use them.
Summary. Again, these are just casual observations from an amateur that may help any would be volunteers in the future. I’m staying in my lane and deferring to the disaster relief experts for the big moving pieces of this. There are hundreds of pages that can be written about C2 structure and management alone, this is just a micro view. Lastly without the volunteers who willingly give up their time and resources this would have fallen flat on its face. The lack of support from government entities was astounding. The uniformed dudes running missions with the Blackhawks and Chinooks are doing great work for the community, don’t get me wrong. But there just aren’t enough of them committed to the fight. Volunteers on the ground are the ones making it happen. I highly recommend doing so if you can, hopefully this will help if you decide to head out.
PART 2…
"Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can." - Arthur Ashe
That is a quote that gets right to the heart of the problem set for the self-reliant individual. The big questions that follow are where are you as a community? what do you collectively have to tackle a crisis? and what can you do (capabilities)?
Last week I talked about what individual volunteers might encounter and a few recommendations on preparing to go assist in a disaster zone. This week we will flip the perspective and highlight some of the “big picture” actions and material solutions we can use for disaster prep. There is an abundance of info about prepping (to include a lot of our own Pro Citizen CM content) but I wanted to throw out a few thoughts about individual and community actions we can take. This is a mix of general preparedness and a few things that became readily apparent from Helene. This is a somewhat disjointed collection of actions and equipment; I’ll do my best to make it flow together so please stick with me. This is by no means comprehensive, just a place to start the discussion and your wargaming of the problem set. As always, your area of the country, terrain, types of disasters (eg you don’t prep for blizzard conditions in southern California) and historical state and local responses to disasters will guide your decisions. METT-TC applies yet again.
Community Networks
Problem - If there was ever an event that disproves the “lone wolf” approach to prepping Helene is it. There may be a few people holed up in the mountains that don’t need any outside assistance, but it isn’t many. As we discussed last week the community and southern Appalachian culture are what saved the day for the Helene response. The small churches and neighbors in the valleys are pulling together and integrating the thousands of volunteers from outside the area. We must assume Lines of Communication (LOCs) will be disrupted for our community planning. To wish away the potential of being physically isolated is irresponsible no matter where you live. This goes along with the idea of community and built in cooperation. It is a neighborhood problem, a small community problem. We live in a society where neighbors may know the names of the people next door but that is about it. This is especially so in the modern US suburbs. Pull in the driveway, garage goes up, car goes in, and garage is back down before the car is fully parked. Your circle of trust dudes may be scattered around the valley or even in the neighboring county. Be prepared to have Johnny the fat banker and Tommy the croc wearing accountant as your team while you dig the neighborhood out (in the early stages at least). Better to meet them now and get to know them a bit vs linking up in the cul de sac the night of X hour.
Recommendation - Get to know your neighbors and understand the culture of your area. Sounds like a simple fix, but a little goodwill goes a long way. Even if you don’t like them at least you will know what you are dealing with when disaster strikes. The brutal truth is you may be better off simply leaving. If the default switch is to activate criminal activities like loot, steal and riot during disruptions you may have a different approach. If you live in a somewhat sane neighborhood, you can be creative in building groups and communities without going tacti-crazy with your neighbor. There will be security minded folks you find and bond with, but the vast majority will be more interested in having internet and power when the lights go out. Your recon/ambush/raid bros that you train with may be scattered through the county, but there is no rule that says you can’t also become a member of the backyard gardening group in your neighborhood. Rapport building and group development doesn’t have to be “meet at the clubhouse next Saturday to discuss cordon and search when SHTF” posted in the neighborhood fB group. There are plenty of related subjects to find common ground and build common ground without skylining yourself as one of those “doomsday guys”.
Decision Making Criteria
Problem - Too late. We discussed this a few weeks ago, the failures of military operations are often a result of “too late”. An execution or adjustment decision was made too late and put the mission and the team at risk. Having a plan and a set of decision criteria (decision points or DPs in a decision support matrix) that you can use to trigger actions can be a literal lifesaver. You can prevent getting caught off guard by an unthinkable event by thinking through potential problems. Some of these can bleed over from the “possible” to the “probable” category and that is OK. Very few people in the western Carolina mountains thought the water would rise that fast and that high. It was reasonable to consider the disaster to be improbable, and yet it happened. Let me be crystal clear, this is not victim shaming or criticizing the folks that endured the storm and made the best decision they could based on the info they had. This is a discussion of things that can help give you an edge in the future, that is all.
Recommendation - Have data points (PIR Priority Intelligence Requirements) to monitor that will help you make a decision. Examples might be when the leading edge of the forest fire crosses a feature, when the dam level reaches 220 feet, or asking when river water levels will reach 40 feet at the Johnson Station can all inform your family’s decision to leave. We won’t dive too deep into PIR, but good PIR ask only one question and focus on a specific fact, event or activity to help you make a decision. For example “will the wildfire cross Highway 27 north of the Johnson Bridge?” You may craft the PIR this way because it will let you know if and when your secondary escape route will become unusable. It applies to any potential disaster in your area, the learning point is to have a deliberate approach to your decision making. There is a current view that PIR should be “yes or no” questions, that is a technique. Over the years I always found the specific questions that make good PIR are not always yes or no. Use what works for you and your organization, but the importance of asking the right question cannot be overemphasized. This is all wrapped in the IPB process you can do now, waiting for things to take shape will be too late. (see CM-2 Reconnaissance for discussion of IPB).
The Mission Command challenge
Problem - The lack of a layered and connected command and control structure is a significant challenge to community and volunteer groups. Small organic groups are easy to overlay a C2 (Command and Control) system over; groups with habitual relationships can be supported and managed by an anyone with some common sense. Controlling assets, small teams, and the information push/pull across echelons (larger and smaller organizations) and adjacent units (the other volunteer and government groups in the area doing work) is a tough problem for us. Good will among volunteer groups is real, the vast majority of folks in volunteer groups really want to help each other do the job at hand. The issue comes when there is no external or layered means for them to efficiently cross level information and identify where supplies and assistance needs to go. This leadership and C2 vacuum in a crisis results in inefficiency, duplication of efforts, and worst of all missed requirements.
Recommendation - This is a tough one, even formal organizations who train year round with endless resources can still get this wrong. Have reasonable expectations when putting a C2 plan and organization together for your group to support the community. But it must be done, you and your group cannot do this on the fly or post-event. The leadership and organization void will be filled quickly as volunteer and local, state and fed elements flow into the disaster zone. The void will be filled by chaos, inaction, and a mix of folks who think they are in charge. This isn’t a discussion of how to induce or win a power struggle. The intent is to have a C2 structure that can not only operate alone but is also able to plug into other organizations as they arrive. Odds are if you have a system that works it will be adopted as THE system if it is simple, repeatable, and can be shared across organizations. Even simple things like a consolidated reporting system that can be viewed and shared by all the distributed organizations will put you light years ahead.
The communications backbone is a large component of this problem, you must assume the mobile and fiber network will be disabled. If it is not then all the better, but plan for alternate means (PACE plan is not just for individual preparation). It is almost a backwards equation in some situations. If the C2 entity is not driving the communications network, the communications network becomes the default C2 node. Ham radio operators who establish a reliable UHF or VHF net can become the defacto control center in several ways. If the local ham repeater guy doing great work for the community is the only one battle tracking (keeping notes) is off the net for any reason all that command post type knowledge goes off the air with him. “Hey did that medevac ever launch up to Spruce Pine, our guys on the ground are asking.” If you can’t reach the stalwart ham repeater net control guy because he is asleep you may not be able to retrieve that information. We don’t want to put ourselves in this situation. An organization that defers to another entity for their communications backbone is accepting too much risk. The recommendation is having a robust and redundant communications plan and system organic to your unit/community. Repeaters, radios (VHF, UHF, and HF), backup satellite-based internet…the list goes on. Most of all your system must be value added to the situation; the more you bring to the fight the more information and assets you will have access to. Volunteer organizations will be looking for boots on the ground local guys, anyone who is lashed up with local authorities (mayor, county emergency response etc). If you want to be part of the solution you must make your group an asset and not a consumer. The clear path to doing so is having a solid command and control system in place before a crisis with a viable means to collect and use information to provide assistance. Always remember intelligence drives operations. Without communications or leadership supported by a viable C2 framework there is no way to gather the information that forms intelligence. Intel that will help you direct everything from cases of water for stranded grandparents to search and rescue helicopters.
Equipment
Problem - I had to go back and delete / rewrite this equipment section due to the length and sheer volume of items, it kinda’ got away from me. If the C2 problem is tough due to its abstract nature the equipment problem is the opposite. The options and capabilities become overwhelming as we chase solutions for potential problems. As your team or family plan for potential community challenges there may be a tendency to throw money (material solutions) at the problem. What I mean by this is it can be an easy but inappropriate solution to acquire equipment without a clear and reasonable requirement. It is true we can’t anticipate every requirement, but by doing some analysis (IPB) and studying recent events your team can establish valid requirements without squandering pre-crisis resources on things you don’t need. With this requirements first mandate out of the way there are some general lessons we can apply to that process.
Recommendation - Build your desired group and community equipment lists based on a well thought out set of requirements. Go into this understanding things will change as the situation develops, but starting with a set of requirements can keep you on track. The other part is you and your team do not need to own everything (nor would that be feasible). You may have a willing neighbor who owns a small construction company that has heavy equipment; go talk to him. Even if there is not a neighbor source it does not mean you need to find a way to fund a D7 dozer or even a $60k Bobcat. It means you need to know who to call for that type of support. Like really know - name, phone number, business address so you can send a runner if comms are out etc. Take a look at the larger volunteer organizations who are working post-Helene and Milton and get their contact info. Put that info in your planners and build a list of these organizations. Have names and social media accounts. Keep it fresh by updating it every year. Do you know how to reach out to the Cajun Navy to get small boat support? Know who to reach out to for rotary wing (helicopter) support? (there are several private volunteer organizations who generously provide helos during a crisis). Who is their operations POC by name and how can you reach them if disaster happens? How do you reach the county emergency management team? Don’t assume someone else will reach out to ask for their assistance. This data is easy to consolidate in your planner or database (of course don’t call them when they are in the middle of a disaster response to find the info). You are building an emergency response cell, the more info you have now the better.
Two of the large categories for equipment and supply requirements are Mobility and Survivability. Starting from requirements and working backwards we will need mobility in the form of tree cutting, debris removal, dry and wet gap crossing, and even roadway repair. We know we will need nonstandard transportation that may come in the form of rotary wing, SxS (Side by Side), ATV, small boats, and even mule / horse teams. Heavy equipment will flow into the zone later than some of the smaller tractors and bobcats that may already be available in the community. If you have neighbors who are willing to volunteer their services, make sure to account for their support. Find out what they will need (diesel, DEF, hydraulic fluid, two cycle oil etc) and add that to your contingency plan. You can even schedule an afternoon with them for a demonstration to show your other team members what the equipment is capable of. And more rapport building is always a good thing as well.
Survivability will require power generation, sandbags, shelter, sanitation, water and food distribution, heating, cooling, a means of medical supply distribution and even medical evacuation and treatment. Temporary shelters, a means to transport supplies and people, and accounting for temporary / improvised sanitation infrastructure and systems. The survivability hardware list is extensive to say the least, there is a ton of homework to be done to work solutions for your area.
Summary. We will dive deeper into this in a later series but there it is - some high level disjointed thoughts for you to ponder. The key is to have a plan before you need it. Don’t wish some of this away, you may very well be the dude with the radio talking to the helicopter pilot. Your wife may be the one running the bobcat doing an improvised road repair so supplies can get through (this actually happened in western NC recently). Two parting thoughts are 1. do not assume someone else will do it and 2. do not wish anything away out of frustration, maybe you don’t have a helicopter but there are plenty of willing men who do.
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