I'm still wrapping my head around everything that happened so this will likely take me a while to get it posted. I'm trying to be more organized than my earlier efforts.
It became clear to me early on that in a crisis folk become amplified versions of themselves. Folks that were good folks before were even more so now. The few bad seeds we had were even more of a pain in the butt now. Hard workers before were superhuman now. The lazy, the moody, grumpy, bossy, etc.... all ramped up those traits as well.
Most were ready and willing to help though a surprising number needed to be pointed at a job even though there were obvious tasks all around them. If you see and overflowing garbage can, do something about it.
At this point we had a number of homeless folks among our ranks. Some stayed in the fight. Others could not. Both of the men in this video lost their homes. We had just finished answering a call to put out a flare-up when Bob decided he'd go have a look at his place which was the first time he'd been there since it burned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD57WEeqawY"Pretty Joe's" story is impressive. With fire bearing down on him he loaded up his four horses and two dogs and whatever else he could load and drove both vehicles - leapfroging a quarter mile at a time - to the Grange about 8 miles down the road. Hoping for help he even wrote on his doors he needed someone to drive it down to Riverside.
Another human nature lesson I got was folks are unpredictable. During evacuations we left behind things like generators and took cheap furniture and knickknacks. Firearms were universally one of the first things loaded into the evacuation vehicles. I learned to just let them point me at what they wanted to take and load it. I did my best not to be too judgmental but some would even leave pets and/or livestock which caught the ire of many. Some took it upon themselves to save other peoples pets and livestock risking their own safety and property while burning valuable time.
Cats were responsible for most of the injuries to evacuators and evacuees. Lots of time was wasted on those little beasts. I'd rather gather a dozen bovines than one cat.
This foal and mother were lead down to the Grange by a neighbor of their owners. The fire burned right through the paddock it was penned in. There were unkind words uttered about the owners...
Rumors were another issue. I'd say half the calls I went out on were based on bad information, whether it was someone was missing or someones place has fire burning at it. I learned to ask who and when they heard that from before acting. If the information was two or more deep it was likely inaccurate and more investigation was needed to clarify it. Add this to the difficulty with electronic communications and our lack of communication preps were shown to be glaringly inadequate.
You need to dose your efforts. We all know folks that can't delegate well and run themselves ragged. We had a supremely qualified nurse that couldn't keep his nose out of the administrative and firefighting duties and exhausted himself to the point of uselessness on all fronts. One needs to delegate tasks, even if you can do it better and faster than someone else you need to focus on what you do that will be most beneficial to the cause.
The unexpected becomes the normal. Some dealt with this better than others. One needs to be agile. Circumstances, issues and problems that one would never imagine happen in the normal course of a day. Rather than question or argue about it, you just have to deal.
When the crisis is on it is easy to get everyone pulling in the same direction. When there is time to exhale the petty politics comes out. Deciding who "deserves" what or who did the most for this does not do any good. There are folks that just can't help keeping score though. I think it is wise to stay away from that as much as possible. Stay available to help but once that gets going there are no good outcomes when things become divisive.
Try to always be cheerful. Even when it isn't going your way. Find a way through it. Little confrontations escalate which can halt the mission. If there is something you feel strongly about that differs from the course taken, be diplomatic or leave it alone, even if you have to just leave yourself. There is a mob rules mentality that can take over and sometimes the majority get bent on doing something you know is wrong and can't be talked out of it. Let em go. You can't win and may make enemies if you fight it. Choose your battles wisely.
Continued...
