Thank you, BabaYaga, for setting the record straight.
“I’ve been taking FEMA courses online – took some basic ones for work in EMS but then I’m also going further.
They have something called the Incident Command System, which is standardized and scalable; there is a chart of positions that is always the same for staffing them, and “freelancers” are discouraged from just showing up at disasters ad hoc and trying to help. Ostensibly because otherwise it could be chaos with people not checking in so nobody else knows what they’re doing, duplicating efforts, and maybe going somewhere dangerous and needing to be rescued themselves.
The person to get in contact with at a big disaster about what donations are needed and where to bring them would be the logistics officer.
I know it’s got to be frustrating though when people with sincere desire to help aren’t being allowed in.
And then you get videos like this TikTok.
I have no opinion on the cause of the fires. I am not there. All I have for news on this is the interwebz.
You can take the following introductory courses on the Incident Command System for free – this is what entry level first responders have to take.
IS 100, IS 200, IS 700 and IS 800 all free online at the FEMA website.
Each class Is about as exciting as watching paint dry, and takes longer. You get yourself a student number at FEMA website also for free, so that you can get credit for the courses.
If you want to do disaster relief even as a volunteer they will require at least these of you and maybe also hazmat awareness (IS 5.a). There are orgs out there that you can send them your credentials and sign up for to volunteer and they will deploy you.
The only corruption I know about personally in disaster relief is some DHS folks who slept around with disaster relief workers who were under them.
I guess you’ll have that, people working out of town wanting to fool around. It’s still not a good look. Keep it classy y’all.”
