The Disaster Action Team (DAT) is a group of about 20 volunteers who are paired into teams of two people. The DAT is the after hours emergency response team for the chapter. We are on duty a week at a time from 5:00pm. until 8:30am during the week, and all day Saturday & Sunday. A week of DAT duty is assigned about once every 5 to 6 weeks.DAT members carry a cell phone so that they can be notified when an emergency happens. You can never guess when you will get called. You may have just gotten in bed at night or be sound asleep at 3:15am. I have come home after being in town all day and got a called a block away from home. I have even left my wife at a New Years Eve party at 11:55pm, for a chimney fire. We just know that we have to meet the client in a timely manner .Our average response time is between 45min. and an hour. We have a night person, June, who the Fire Department or Police Department calls with information about the emergency. June calls the team on duty and tells them where to respond.
No matter how small (a house fire) or large (a tornado) the DAT is the Red Cross first responders. We are the eyes and ears of what is going on if it is a big event. We call back and have the chapter activated if it is needed. Our chapter covers a portion of 4 counties. You can be in the city one call and the next be on some country road you never heard of at 11:pm at night looking for the lights of a fire truck.
It seems that 50% of the house fires are kitchen fires. I was at the chapter one da
y around lunch time when a fire call came in. It seem two fellows were cooking french fries for lunch. They decided to go out for hamburgers and forgot about the french fries. When they got back, the kitchen was on fire. We provided them clothing & food, they had a place to stay so we did not need to provide lodging. Dryer fires are another common fire. Make sure you vacuum under and around your dryer every once in a while and never leave your dryer running when you leave the house.
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