# Sandy Deployment: SoCal to NY



## DesertMedic66 (Nov 27, 2012)

I receive a phone call on Thursday the 26th saying that we are on stand-by to be deployed to the east coast for hurricane sandy. From that point I make sure my 72 hour to go bag is all put together to go. 

On Saturday I receive word that we have a high possibility of being deployed. I call into work and clear up all my questions (my first deployment). 

On Sunday I start my normal ALS shift of 0600-1800. At 1600 I get a phone call from my supervisor (Strike Team Leader) that we did get deployed and that we all (22 members) have 90 minutes to get to our deployment location. I call the on duty supervisor and get cleared in early. I take off from work stop by my house and pick up my to go bag and continue on to the location. It was about 65 miles from where I was working at so I had no time to spare. 

We fill out paperwork and then hop in our transportation to the airport. The pilot and flight crew let us board the plane first. During the flight to Ohio they make an announcement about us being deployed and we get applause from the rest of the passengers. As the flight lands the flight crew all shake our hands and give us bottles of water as we are walking off the plane. 

We cram 28 (met up with 6 members from a different county) of us into 7 ambulances and start our drive to Fort Dix in NJ. As we get closer to NJ we are passing semi trucks that are flipped over from the wind. 5 of our ambulances lost a full windshield wiper (blade and metal arm) but we continue to push on. 

It's getting to the point where we are thinking about parking and seeking shelter anywhere. Then we receive a phone call from NATCOM (national communications) telling us that we are being diverted up to Fort Stewart in Upstate NY. They tell us to haul butt and out run the storm. 

We arrive at fort Stewart 16 hours after our plane landed. We commandeer a training room at the Fort and sleep for a couple of hours. We wake up 5-6 hours later and meet up with 7 other ambulances and start our drive to NJ. roads are closed and we are being stopped at toll stations and having to pay. We call NATCOM and they advise us to start going code 3 all the way to NJ and to run thru any toll stations without paying. 

We are going around road closed signs and traveling thru flooded roadways. We end up stopping at meeting up with a NY state trooper who gives us an escort all the way to Fort Dix. Once at fort Dix we start stalking the ambulances to FEMA levels with the gear we had. Our ambulance has and old school lifepak 10 monitor with no defib gel or lead cables (wonderful). After we get everyone all stocked we receive word that NJ is able to handle a lot of the aftermath without our assistance so we are now heading to the Floyd Bennett Airfield in NY. 

We all start arriving in Floyd Bennett Airfield (our Forward Operating Base, FOB). At this point we get an evacuation mission from Goldwater SNF to Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island. We sent 2 strike teams on this mission (10 ambulances). Everywhere we go we have to go lights and sirens and no one pulls over for us at all. 

At the end of this mission I have been up for 96+ hours with only a 2 hour nap on the plane. So everyone on my strike team is wiped out. We head back to the FOB to go to staging. After another 2 hour nap we wake up to the Staging Manager banging on our hood saying to go see the Incident Commander. 

My supervisor gets placed on the Incident Management Team (IMT) due to him having ICS 300 & 400. The also decide to move my medic partner and myself (on the same unit as our supervisor) up to the IMT as well.  So that took us from an unknown schedule of working to working 12 hour shifts 7 days a week. 

We had a total of 373 ambulances (mostly ALS) along with 20+ support vehicles and 15 fuel tanker trucks. 

Around day 4 we were sending out missions that consisted of 100+ ambulances. This went on until day 19 of the deployment. Days started to blur together. Around day 6 we had to start having law enforcement escort our ambulances due to citizens trying to take equipment and fuel from them. We also had the noreastern hit us which dropped 6 inches of snow. We were still running missions during the storm. 

Around day 6 is also when we had restrooms delivered and showers delivered. The laundry trailer arrived around 10. Laundry service was shut down by the health department around day 15 due to it not having a secure gray water holding tank. We also started getting catered food (3 meals a day) on day 6. Before then we were eating MREs or fast food places that were still open. 

The cities power grids were horrible. It took forever for power to get restored and fuel to get to the gas stations. When fuel finally came to the stations people were waiting 6+ hours to get fuel. Some gas stations were charging $7 per gallon. 

Once fuel came and power was back on the area started to recover quicker. The president landed in New York and we sent 2 ambulances to do medical coverage (mainly to just show our presence). 

We had 1 ambulance lost to water, 1 ambulance blew a motor, 1 ambulance dropped a transmission, and 3 ambulances were sideswiped by Taxi cabs. 

On day 18 we started the demobilization process (sending units home). By day 20 we only had 50 ambulances still remaining at the FOB. On day 21 we were all demobilized. We left 75 ambulances in Brooklyn, NY and then were shuttled to local airports. 

On the flights home we had the same treatment by the airline staff (going over the PA system and telling the passengers what we did and then having everyone give us a round of applause). 

All in all it was a good experience and I will not forget it anytime soon. 

I would like to say thank you to FDNY for letting us stock supplies from them, use their showers, and just being really nice in general. Also the hospitals in NY for letting us raid their supplies and using their showers.


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## DesertMedic66 (Nov 27, 2012)

I was asked by a couple of people to post on my recent and first deployment to Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy that hit the East Coast of the US. 

I left out some small details to make the post not so long. 

This was typed up on an iPad by an EMT who has not taken any college English classes..

If any of you have questions on anything please feel more then free to ask them on the thread or on a PM. 

Thanks for reading.


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## Amberlamps916 (Nov 27, 2012)

An excellent post and well written I might add. Glad to hear about what I'm sure was an amazing experience. Kudos to you and all the providers who helped during Sandy. That's what makes the rest of us proud.


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## mycrofft (Nov 28, 2012)

Awesome. And I don't use that word often. Thanks.


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## DesertMedic66 (Nov 28, 2012)

mycrofft said:


> Awesome. And I don't use that word often. Thanks.



Your very welcome. Figured I should share my experience with all the current and future members of the site.


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## Jambi (Nov 28, 2012)

That was a great AAR. Thanks for sharing!


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## Anonymous (Nov 28, 2012)

Really enjoyed reading that. Thanks for sharing! Never been deployed on a strike team but often here they can be rough!


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## mycrofft (Nov 28, 2012)

See if there is an archive of such materials. I'm sure as hell FEMA etc won't do it, they polish and tweak stuff for posterity.


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## Jon (Nov 28, 2012)

I'm on my phone now - but there are some posts from me going to Katrina.

From experience - the most unnerving thing with deploying to these events is uncertainty. How safe? What sort of accommodations? Etc, Etc, etc.


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## DesertMedic66 (Nov 28, 2012)

Jon said:


> I'm on my phone now - but there are some posts from me going to Katrina.
> 
> From experience - the most unnerving thing with deploying to these events is uncertainty. How safe? What sort of accommodations? Etc, Etc, etc.



Same thing with me. Where are we to sleep? Fuel up at, eat? What kind of conditions are we going to be dealing with?

Once everything was figured out and set in place then that took a lot of stress off everyone.


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## mycrofft (Nov 28, 2012)

How about post-event letdown? Doing OK?


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## ToyotaTruck (Dec 3, 2012)

Sounds like a blast and a great experience. Good work! This is going to make me get on a strike team at my company.


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 3, 2012)

mycrofft said:


> How about post-event letdown? Doing OK?



Just saw this post. Looking back on it I wish I wasn't placed on the Incident Management Team. That would have allowed me to always be in the action and not just behind the scenes. 

Other then that there is not one thing I would have changed. 

Mentally I'm doing fine. Physically not so much. Hurt my knee while I was out there. It's been 2-3 weeks since I have been back and my knee is still hurting everyday and locking up unless i take a couple ibuprofen (pre-existing knee injury from 2 years ago).


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## Tigger (Dec 3, 2012)

firefite said:


> Just saw this post. Looking back on it I wish I wasn't placed on the Incident Management Team. That would have allowed me to always be in the action and not just behind the scenes.
> 
> Other then that there is not one thing I would have changed.
> 
> Mentally I'm doing fine. Physically not so much. Hurt my knee while I was out there. It's been 2-3 weeks since I have been back and my knee is still hurting everyday and locking up unless i take a couple ibuprofen (pre-existing knee injury from 2 years ago).



Great posts.

What did being a part of the Incident Management Team entail?


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 3, 2012)

Tigger said:


> Great posts.
> 
> What did being a part of the Incident Management Team entail?



My position was "check in and demobilization unit leader". 

Basically I was acting as a dispatcher. Keeping track of what units were coming back from missions, going out to missions, where they were at in staging, units out of service, along with keeping our FOB closed to the public (aka not letting anyone on the property).

We also filled other people's positions when they had to go somewhere such as the restroom, food tent, shower, or leave the FOB. So I got to play Staging Manager, Ready Line 1&2 (get the units lined up and make sure they are all good and set up to go on a mission), EMS Operations, and Deputy Incident Commander. Sadly I never got to cover the position of Incident Commander :glare: haha


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 4, 2012)

Just learned today that one of the guys on the Incident Management Team that I worked with passed away in NY after being admitted to the hospital during the first 10 days of the deployment. :sad:


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## mycrofft (Dec 5, 2012)

Sorry about that, condolences to family and associates.


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## b2dragun (Dec 6, 2012)

I was there at Floyd Bennet with you, from Vegas.  It was a great experience, 20 days helped out financially.  I will remember the deployment for all the good that was done.  As to others who have asked about ups and downs...the biggest downside was having 375 ambulances staged in cold weather, I only say this because people refused to put a jacket on instead of running their rigs day and night.  The amount of diesel fumes I inhaled was horrible.  I am still coughing.  We were at the point of getting headaches, nausea, and some of us resorted to NRB breaks with the O2 tank.  The food was pretty amazing, the occasional showers were ice.  I will however not miss sleeping on a gurney.


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 6, 2012)

You could've slept on the cots in the tents... Haha. 

Very few crews turned their ambulances off. When the nor'easter hit I don't blame them for leaving them on. Bad for the crews and also bad for the ambulances.


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## b2dragun (Dec 6, 2012)

firefite said:


> You could've slept on the cots in the tents... Haha.
> 
> Very few crews turned their ambulances off. When the nor'easter hit I don't blame them for leaving them on. Bad for the crews and also bad for the ambulances.



By the time we would go to the tents they were claimed or the heat was out.  We also spent some nights off Bennet.  Sleeping in the rig wasn't all that bad really, just annoying the amount of time spent in them.  You actually get use to it.

As for the trucks, we hardly ever ran ours...here and there.  Nothing some long johns and a sleeping bag didn't fix.  Every time we would get gas people around us would get 30 gallons and we would get 4.  People that ran them non-stop just weren't prepared.  As for the Nor'easter...6 inches is not enough to brag about.  I may be from Vegas but I was born and raised Michigan, still shorts and flip flop weather


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## mycrofft (Dec 6, 2012)

Did the ambulance crews have a chain of command who could issue orders such as to turn off the ambulances, or to whom they could complain the heat was not working  the tents, etc?


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 6, 2012)

mycrofft said:


> Did the ambulance crews have a chain of command who could issue orders such as to turn off the ambulances, or to whom they could complain the heat was not working  the tents, etc?



Ambulance crews could go to their strike team leader who would then go to the task force leader who would then go to EMS Operations Chief who would then get ahold of fleet services (also at the FOB). 

Or the crews could just go up to any of the Incident Management Team and we would in turn contact fleet. 

We wanted all the crews to sleep in the tents but we were not going to force anyone. Due to that reason we let the crews run their engines all night to keep warm (some people were not prepared for cold). Also a lot of the ambulances were extremely old and would not start back up after being turned off.


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## mycrofft (Dec 6, 2012)

firefite said:


> Ambulance crews could go to their strike team leader who would then go to the task force leader who would then go to EMS Operations Chief who would then get ahold of fleet services (also at the FOB).
> 
> Or the crews could just go up to any of the Incident Management Team and we would in turn contact fleet.
> 
> We wanted all the crews to sleep in the tents but we were not going to force anyone. Due to that reason we let the crews run their engines all night to keep warm (some people were not prepared for cold). Also a lot of the ambulances were extremely old and would not start back up after being turned off.


 Sounds like some serious lessons learned. Hope they are remembered.


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 6, 2012)

mycrofft said:


> Sounds like some serious lessons learned. Hope they are remembered.



Not much we could have done about it. As soon as we were made aware of an issue it was handled fairly quickly. I only heard a couple of the heaters break. 22+ tents each with 2 heaters in it plus spare heaters incase they started to break.


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 6, 2012)




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## mycrofft (Dec 6, 2012)

Kinda like KAF but with more pavement and no grenade and bullet marks on the tower.


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 6, 2012)

mycrofft said:


> Kinda like KAF but with more pavement and no grenade and bullet marks on the tower.



The airbase wasn't too happy about us drilling holes into the pavement to secure the tents down... :unsure:


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## mycrofft (Dec 6, 2012)

HAhaha bet not!!


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## b2dragun (Dec 6, 2012)

I am not saying things were not done right, just my observations.  Nothing that would keep me from doing it over again.  Another thing with staying in the tents; it was also easier to stay in the rig for the middle of the night gas run or line move.  It seemed like everytime I tried out a tent I spent half the night getting woken up to move my rig.  As for the rigs not being turned off...we followed chain of command and got orders to keep them off.  People would do it for a bit and then say screw it and just run them.  They would use the excuse that they needed to charge phones or their rig wouldn't restart.  We all know EMS, people looking for ways to get around things.  We had a couple rigs that sucked, we just made sure to start them every hour and let them run for 15min.  I don't think there is an actual solution.  Except getting stubborn stupid people to realize they are going to the Northern East coast when it is going to be cold...so prepare appropriately.  The only other solution would be to rearrange the rigs to allow more wind/airflow to move the fumes.  But in the end I realize it is a disaster response and :censored::censored::censored::censored: isn't suppose to be enjoyable or perfected.  If I get the call next time I will be there again.


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## b2dragun (Dec 6, 2012)




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## b2dragun (Dec 6, 2012)

And this has nothing to do with the conversation, it was just pretty cool to see


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## DesertMedic66 (Dec 6, 2012)

6 guys all with M-16s. I asked if they wanted to trade that for our ambulance. They said no..


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## mycrofft (Dec 7, 2012)

> And this has nothing to do with the conversation, it was just pretty cool to see



Nice gangsta links under the photo.


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