A Month in a Week, A week in a day....

It was not a quiet week( was it really just one week?) for ARC girl. I seem to remember it getting busy last year in the Spring but this is ridiculous. Monday, a national holiday according to my son..St Patricks day, I sat in front of a computer for 6 hours putting shelter info from a National web site to a spread sheet made up by some "brilliant service area employee" who by the way got a pink slip last week. This redundancy report has taken me about a week all told, between downloading the info that I have gathered to put into the National data base, and then put it into this spread sheet that will ..get this be for "our use" when the data is looked at, and then sent back to us.

So after finally finishing that task, I took the one day I had left in my office this week to clean up, (Wednesday) unfortunately after lunch...all you know what broke loose. First there was Armed Forces Emergency Services Call, for a service member whose mother was undergoing immediate surgery,..they could not find him, the situation deterioriated as the afternoon went on, and after all the back and forth phone calls, the service member was actually not in the States as thought but on a plane to Kuwait, and the mother unfortunately passed away. It was one of the rougher calls I have had. Then I check my email and they are predicting that the storm coming in on Thursday is going to "blast" Aroostook County! As well as cause icing else where, so I email my EMA director,that I will be in Augusta at the Emergency Management Agency, but he can get me by phone..
Then I have my coat on..to leave and phone rings..Fire in Otis..Family with kids, no one home but could I come..? As I am talking to dispatch , I look up and my EMA director Ralph walks in the door to discuss tommorows weather...jeez!

I say Ralph, this has not been an easy day and its not getting any better, and you need to listen to my day before I hear what you want..so I fill him in and he says...I had no idea about the seriousness of this storm, I was in Augusta and got a text on the way home.. I said hey,,.you have my cell but I have to go to Augusta tommorow..He was headed for Kona's for a drink and I said "its better than Otis to a fire..and off we went.

Made it to Otis, house was completely gone, but looked like it had been a beautiful home. Large field stone fire place and cathedral ceiling at the front. Unfortunately no one had gotten in touch with the owners so I say and waited until she came home, not knowing she had no home to come to. To say the least it was one of the tougher cases I have done.

I drove back to the office around 7:30 pm and did some paperwork and finally headed home around 8:30. I am pretty sure I did a months worth of work, at least emotionally in one afternoon. One of the rougher days I have had with ARC.

Thursday and Friday was spent with all the Emergency Service people around the state working on our disaster plans at MEMA. It was a good two days, tiring, but none the less worth doing and always good to connect with everyone else that if the you know what ever hits the fan we will be in the trenches with!!

Today Friday, the EOC was getting messages all day from Aroostook county where roads were closed due to white out blizzard conditions and roofs collapsed including at a dairy farm where several cattle were trapped underneath..not a pretty picture from our northern most part of the chapter..Today being the first full day of spring mind you!

Well its the weekend..started with ST Paddys day and ends with Easter...today being Good Friday,,,I am not sure but is 4th of July next week? Someone let ARC girl know...she is confused and tired!!