Red Cross responders Ramon Barreras (left), Tint Chan (center), and David Kay (right) coordinate their response to a five-alarm fire on Francis Lewis Boulevard in Queens on August 3. (Photo by Frederic Klein / American Red Cross)
By Frederic Klein
[AUGUST 3, 2024] Being a disaster responder in New York City can be high-energy, demanding and stressful as you head to scenes of active disasters to help connect with the people impacted in order to provide care and comfort. It can also involve a lot of waiting around (although never let anyone hear you say the word “slow” or “quiet” lest you be faulted for the next disaster that strikes).
Tint Chann, a Disaster Action Team volunteer for about a year, arrived at the midtown headquarters of the American Red Cross of Greater New York around 6am on August 3 to begin his eight-hour shift. He first began volunteering with the Red Cross as an intern, where he helped work on mapping projects for the Disaster Cycle Services department while he pursued a career in emergency management.
“[I saw] the 2011 Japanese earthquake, and everyone who was coming down and helping people,” Tint said, about why he wants to work in emergency management. “Just the whole idea of an emergency operation, everyone doing everything they can.”
The day was running smoothly when Tint arrived, with the first call for a response coming in a little before 11am for a fire on 44th Street in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. Along with Ramon Barreras, who has been a disaster responder with the Red Cross since 2018, Tint hopped in a response vehicle and headed to the scene of a multi-family fire. That fire displaced four households and six people, including one older adult and two children, with Tint and Ramon helping the Red Cross provide temporary lodging and financial assistance to help people get started on their roads to recovery.
While Tint and Ramon were in Sunset Park, another Disaster Action Team volunteer was arriving at HQ for his shift that began at 2pm. David Kay, a volunteer on his second shift with the Red Cross, would not have a slow afternoon — there was already another fire happening in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. As soon as he arrived, he grabbed a reflective Red Cross vest and a hard hat, hopped in another response vehicle and headed to Brooklyn to meet up with Tint and Ramon.
“I interacted with the [International] Red Cross back when I was a kid growing up during the [Georgia] civil war,” David said, about why he volunteers in Greater New York. “I’ve seen the American Red Cross right after Katrina. So, I knew about it, but I never knew that there were everyday citizens just like us who volunteer and that this whole system existed.”
The fire in Canarsie displaced a family of six, and the Red Cross got them set up with lodging for the next few days and financial assistance to help replace some of their belongings that were damaged and destroyed. Ramon, Tint, and David spoke with each family member and talked with them about their immediate needs — such as replacing an asthma inhaler or other medications.
Red Cross responder Tint Chan (front) enters information from a resident impacted by a fire in Canarsie on August 3, while Ramon Barreras (right) and David Kay (back) talk to other residents. (Photo by: Frederic Klein / American Red Cross)
Red Cross responders connect with residents of the burned home in Canarsie as debris fills the front yard after firefighters extinguished the flames on August 3. (Photo by: Frederic Klein / American Red Cross)
As the team confirmed lodging arrangements for the family in Canarsie, the shadows started to grow longer and the clock ticked closer to 4pm. Tint happily agreed to extend his shift past the scheduled end time of 2pm, but he had already been working for ten hours so he traded places with David who would continue working with Ramon for the rest of the afternoon.
As fate would have it, however, Tint didn’t make it past the Brooklyn-Queens border on his way back to his home in Rego Park before another call came in — there was a five-alarm fire in Queens Village, a picturesque enclave of eastern Queens that could easily make you forget you are in the densest city in the entire United States. Without a second thought, Tint agreed to change his plans and went to join Ramon and David at the fire.
The team arrived at the fire, traffic backed up for blocks as emergency responders blared past, and rushed to join the eventual 200-plus firefighters, EMTs and paramedics who brought the fire under control in about two hours. Exhausted firefighters sprawled out along the street, wet towels on their heads while they gulped down a bright orange beverage being dispensed from an FDNY truck.
Firefighters stand among burned rubble in Queens Village on August 3. (Photo by David Burns / @FD4D)
Ramon, Tint, and David quickly set out among the hundreds of bystanders who were watching the smoke billow out from the row of homes, distraught residents desperately trying to find their family members and neighbors. As the team identified who among the crowd was displaced by the fire, David brought a pair of size ten shoes to a teenage boy who had fled from his home in just his bare feet.
As the trio of responders worked their way through the crowd, they methodically coordinated with Red Cross workers in the Emergency Communications Center back at HQ to arrange hotels and financial assistance for the residents who were impacted by the fire — registering eleven households and 44 people, including five older adults and twelve children along with two cats.
The crowd dwindled, likely deterred by a sudden deluge of rain that drenched anyone who spent more than a few seconds without cover, and Tint was relieved by Mark Gordon — another Red Cross volunteer who has worked as a responder since 2018 to fulfill a retirement promise to his mother-in-law and himself after she was helped by the Red Cross when she had a home fire. Howard Moi, a volunteer with the Red Cross since 1992, also made the trek over from his home in Woodside to help his fellow Queens neighbors. The team registered an elderly woman who hadn’t been home when the fire happened, procured dinner for the people who couldn’t return home and helped make sure everyone had transportation to their hotels for the night.
Although the Greater New York region has a lot of volunteers who have worked for many years with the Red Cross, there is a steady influx of new volunteers ready to step up and help their neighbors. The interactions between experienced disaster responders and newbies have been invaluable for both Tint and David as they begin their own Red Cross journey.
“I’m still learning and trying to pace myself, and make it as simple as possible,” Tint said. “I’ve pretty much gone out with almost all of the team at this point, so I observe how everyone does it differently. The way they approach people, the way they explain our process, the way they just approach the situation is different [from each other].”
“I think the team I worked with did such an amazing job,” David said. “I am still a rookie, but I worked alongside [a team] who is experienced Red Crossers. And just like we learned in the training, I saw in the field how important it is to have an individual approach to every single [disaster and person].”
The American Red Cross in Greater New York responds to an average of 3.5 new displacement events in New York City every day. Volunteers such as Tint, David, Mark, and Howard are vital to help ensure that the Red Cross can provide care and comfort to people experiencing disaster. Put on a red vest and join us by visiting www.redcross.org/volunteer.
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