I have been a volunteer for the St. Louis Area Chapter’s Disaster Action Team (DAT) for several months now. You can usually find me on the Wednesday or Saturday night shift working from 4:00 to midnight. Often the night crew will respond to at least one fire, but sometimes there are none. No matter what, the DAT members make sure we have our trucks – and ourselves – prepared to respond at a moment’s notice.

Tonight, we jumped in the truck three times – however, they were all (thankfully) false alarms. Each time we planned who was going to do what at the scene, from casework to canteening for emergency responders. We were ready to respond, but on each of the calls we turned around before we even hit Lindbergh (which is less than 1/10 of a mile from Chapter). We learned that even on the false alarms, the practice of going through the tasks assigned to each person was beneficial. It meant we were better prepared for the next time we were called to the scene.

Tonight’s events got me thinking, what if it was my home that caught fire? What if it was my 2-year-old nephew in the upstairs bedroom? How else can I prepare at home? I learned about the importance of preparing for emergencies when I interned for the Red Cross. I took the first step and made a disaster kit, but there is so much more that I can be doing like making an emergency plan and practicing it with my family.

Well, midnight is almost here and we are packing up. I’ll continue to keep you up-to-date on my DAT shifts.

Take care,

Molly

Red Cross Volunteer