A new dance craze, perhaps? A new type of rock crawl?
No, Four wheel Drive Emergency Assistance Team, a program of the
Colorado Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, Inc. (CoA4WDCI) that
was severely tested in the 2003 spring storm in Denver that left anywhere
from 36 inches to 78 inches of snow during the 3 day storm.
On Sunday 16 March, I sent an email to all 62 FEAT members putting
them on stand-by. The weather forecast was for bunches and bunches
of snow for the Denver area.
After lunch on Tuesday March 18th I received a call from the Director
of the Denver Office of Emergency Management (OEM) about activating
FEAT at 5 P.M. I called Al Fink of the Penzgauer Club, as he volunteered
to help me dispatch. We started calling some of the 62 FEAT members
located in the 6 zones I had established. The Zones are to keep from
sending volunteers from the north part of the metro area to the south
and vice versa.
Denver’s Office of Emergency Management is a small series of
rooms in the basement of the Denver City and County building. The
OEM contains communications and other equipment to help run the city
when the Mayor or governor declares an emergency. It contains space
for City Works, RTD, police, fire, EMS, Red Cross, etc. – and,
of course 2 desk locations for FEAT dispatchers. We have pencil and
paper and 2 phone lines.
When Al and I met at the "bullpen" of the OEM Tuesday at
5 P.M., we had about 15 volunteers standing by to assist. Our phone
lines were already activated and we started receiving calls and dispatching
drivers. We dispatched drivers until around midnight and made assignments
for drivers for the next morning starting at 5 A.M.
We started in the bullpen about 7 A.M. Wednesday and our 2 phone
lines were ringing off the hook with 4wheel volunteers calling to
help and emergency services personnel needing rides. Someone had put
out a call for 4wd volunteer help to the radio and TV media. The two
of us were swamped!! The paper tracking system I had devised fell
apart under the deluge of calls. Some callers said they waited for
about 5 minutes to get through. The OEM never found out who put out
the 4wd call. I suspect the Mayor’s office; not knowing what
FEAT was all about and how we were organized.
Al and I spent 15 hours Wednesday taking calls for rides and dispatching
drivers. Exhausted, we went home about 10 P.M. but again made arrangements
for drivers to start picking up riders on Thursday morning starting
at 5 A.M.
Finally getting smarter as each hour went by, we found two volunteers
to come in Thursday evening and train as dispatchers. We went home
after only 11 hours on Thursday.
Friday, with the snowplows now making their way through some of the
side streets and the fast melting of the snow, we de-activated FEAT
at noon.
As best as we can reconstruct our efforts, we had 90 4wd driver volunteers
make 195 trips delivering 185 people. We dispatched to and picked
up police, firemen, nurses, doctors, health care workers to take care
of their quadriplegic patients, picked up medicine for 2 bedridden
patients, and assisted the Red Cross in setting up a shelter at East
High school that assisted over 130 people that was without power for
several days.
Al and I met with the OEM people for a de-briefing on 1 April. The
were so pleased with our operation that we are expanding our FEAT
area in the OEM bullpen. In the future, OEM will provide us 4 desk
spaces, at least 4 telephone lines, and 4 laptop computers. Their
software guru is working on a software program that will match the
ZIP code of the person requesting a ride with the ZIP code in my Zones.
We can then track all volunteers and their status.
FEAT is not restricted to only members of the CoA4WDCI clubs but
open to the public. We picked up over 60 new FEAT members. Of course,
the next mailing I do will include information on the CoA4WDCI 4wd
clubs and a supporting member application.
April is the snowiest month for Denver. We may have to do this again
soon as I am writing this the last of April. We can only hope so!!
The FEAT volunteers like to play in the snow, and because of a 3-year
drought, we really need the moisture.
