Crown King

So far, we are having a lot of fun here in Crown King! We are being trained as firefighters! For the first couple of days, we took a general recruit class so that we knew what to expect and also some training on basic information. Then, we started to work in the field, which involved us cutting down lots and lots of brush from properties that requested the fire department's help. The reason we are cutting the brush down is because in the past, firefighters thought that all fires were bad and that they needed to stop all of them. The brush that needed to be cleaned out by the natural fires were not being cleaned anymore, so the forests were overgrown and had a high risk of fire.
The next training we had was medical training so we can be on call in an emergency. Then, we got trained to use chain saws, which is pretty cool!
Today, we were out in the field working and it was so cold that it was snowing!
We went to the Grand Canyon this past weekend over our four day spring break, which was a lot of fun. The second day we were there, it snowed all day and when we went to look at the canyon, there was fog and it looked like the world ended at the trees! We spent two days at the Grand Canyon and then went to Sedona, where we camped for our third night. Then we went to Jerome, where we went hiking in the Red Rocks.
We got our project choices for next round, which is pretty neat. A lot of them are in Texas and involve trail building, one is in Arkansas, one in New Mexico working at a native american reservation and a couple in Colorado, trail building. We got to pick our top choices but we will know where we are going when we get back to Denver next month.

Well, here we are back in Denver! And we are getting ready to leave, this monday, for Arizona!!! It will be lots of fun! Everyone who went to Crown King last round have been telling us how much fun it is there! However, we will be traveling for three days so that we don't have to travel on the road to Crown King at night. Apparently it is not a very good road, even during the day. We are planning on going on a lot of hikes and maybe rock climbing and wading into a pond at the top of one of the mountains!

Arizona!

Soon we are leaving Texas and going back to Denver. There we will debrief from this project and get ready for the next one. This round is a shuffle round, which means that we are switching teams and team leaders. It makes for a little excitement and means that we got assigned our project before we normally would. I am going to Crown King, Arizona to fight fires and live in the mountains about two and a half hours away from Phoenix. We are getting really excited to be leaving Texas and everyone is psyched for the next round!
We went to a Mardi Gras celebration in Port Aurthur last weekend, which apparently a quarter million people go to from Thursday to Sunday of parades. Tomorrow, we are going to work with Churches of Christ, who will give us a house to gut. This weekend, we are going to do a cleanup in Sabine Pass, which is definitely needed.

disaster in tx

Today, we started a new project in Sabine Pass, which should be pretty interesting. We are going to buildings that were destroyed in the hurricanes and writing down all information we can about them and their exact location using a GPS. We will be doing this for the next couple of days and then moving on to Port Arthur.

These are pictures from when we went to Chambers County to check out the damage.

We even got to get super close to an alligator! Kimmy wanted to get even closer!

The tubes in the picture three from the bottom of the page used to be buried under the ground to protect the homes that were all along the beach from storms, but now it is about eight feet above ground.

These wires along the side of the road were never repaired and are still in the bushes.

FEMA

We are working with FEMA as our sponsor. At first, there was a project for us that consisted of going out into the community and surveying houses damaged from the hurricanes. Lately, a few of us have been working with an organization called Churches of Christ, which helps people out with food donations, furniture and sheet rock delivery. It is a very good program and well worth being a part of. This past Thursday, we worked with a Texan to deliver sheet rock to homes that needed rebuilding. We delivered approximately 740 sheets to about 5 homes over the course of the day. Friday, Saturday and Monday, we worked in a house to gut it, which basically means taking out the drywall and everything in the house, leaving only the basic parts- the studs. We even got to rip out a wooden floor in the main room of the house. It was a lot of fun and we got to use sledgehammers to rip up floors.
Today, we wanted to work with the Army Corps of Engineers, but it turns out that he didn't have anything for us to do right now. We went out to lunch and got a tour of Oak Island, which is very destroyed by the hurricanes. Then we came back to the FEMA office and learned about Microsoft Access for a couple of hours.
A couple Saturdays ago, some of us went on a tour of Chambers County to see all of the damage and assess it. There is a lot of damage and it was really sad to look at. We got to drive up to the one house left standing in Gilchrist that was all over the news, which was kind of neat. We also got to see this alligator up close, which was pretty exciting!
On a lighter note, the people of Beaumont and surrounding areas are really nice people in general. They are very friendly and appreciative of what we are doing here. Although downtown Beaumont is pretty quiet, we have a movie theater next to our hotel and quite a few restaurants and stores, so we are doing pretty well activity wise. On Martin Luther King Day, my team and I went to a parade and then festivities afterward where MLK was praised.

Getting things done with FEMA in Beaumont Texas!

So now that Christmas and New Years are over, I have gone back to Colorado and am in Texas now, I have survived the first day of working with FEMA! We are staying in an extended stay hotel. I am staying in a room with three other girls in a room, which should be interesting. We have to make our own meals, so we shopped for food tonight at the grocery store. It's really hard to budget food when there are ten people to shop for, including vegetarian food.
We had our first day in Beaumont Texas at the FEMA AFO today, which was interesting. We filled out a lot of paperwork but still don't know all of what we will be doing for the next two months. We will most likely be finding out tomorrow!
We have to get up at 6:30 so we can get up to work at 8:00. Our work days are Monday through Saturday- Monday through Friday 8:00 to 5:00 and Saturday is 8:00 to 12:00.

Last day in LA

Sadly, I have reached the end of my time here in New Orleans and must begin packing and getting ready to move back to Denver. I have to admit that I am not looking forward to the trip back. Our van is a 12-seater and the 12th is half a seat in the way back of the van. The problem arises with our cargo van- they forgot about us and so now, last minute, we are sharing a truck with another team. We have to fit three people to a bench now the whole way back. Hopefully no one explodes. There will be tension in that van, that's for sure.

On a lighter note, we have been told that our next project will be somewhere in Texas, working with FEMA. We do not know yet where we will be staying, but at least we know the state!

It snowed last Thursday, and so I thought it would be appropriate to have some pictures of the craziness taking place in Louisiana. It was so amazing that we all jumped out of bed and rushed outside with our cameras.


It really was sticking to the cars!

Here is Jack saying, "What is going on?"