Fla. aid worker recalls daunting task, loose dogs

CARIBOU – For Vern Ouellette, responding to disasters comes with the job.

The director of the Aroostook County Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday, however, that his recent trip to Florida to assist in disaster-relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Charley was unlike any other.

Aroostook County folks are doing their part to assist in relief efforts in the South. Ouellette was back on the job Tuesday after spending two weeks in Polk County, in central Florida about 15 miles from Orlando, as a community relations volunteer. And another Aroostook County resident left Sunday for a three-week deployment to Florida to assist in relief after Hurricane Frances.

Ouellette responded to a call from the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which is designed to allow emergency-management personnel from all over the country to assist in times of crisis. He and three others from Maine assisted in the disaster-relief efforts.

Ouellette was part of a 50-member team charged with knocking on every door in Polk County and giving residents information on where to go and what to do to receive assistance.

On the surface, Ouellette admits, the work doesn’t sound essential. But two weeks’ worth of 12-hour days spent walking through hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods in 100-degree weather to find every county resident turned out to be an enormous task.

“In the beginning, it didn’t feel like a big help,” Ouellette said. “But then once we started talking with the people and seeing how pleased they were to get the correct information, we realized how important it was. Many of these residents hadn’t seen any other officials at all and were glad to get the information. They were hugging us and shaking our hands because we were trying to help.”

The experience was a real eye-opener for the Aroostook County resident, especially because he was playing a different role than he does during disaster-relief activities in northern Maine.

“It was pretty different for me because up here I oversee smaller disasters, and I get to see the whole picture,” Ouellette said. “Down there, I just had a specific component of the whole effort to handle.”

Even with his past experience, the emergency-management director said he’s never seen such a large-scale relief effort.

“When you’re told you have to reach every resident, how do you logistically handle that?” Ouellette asked.

The answer, he said, was to focus on the mission.

That was not an easy task as the team dealt with despondent residents, heat exhaustion, dog attacks – many dogs escaped their yards after winds downed trees, breaking fences – and the overwhelming amount of destruction that surrounded them, Ouellette said. Four people on his 50-member team were bitten by dogs.

It could have been worse, though. “There were all kinds of things coming out of the swamp including alligators and snakes,” Ouellette said. Fortunately, the critters harmed no one that he knows of.

Just getting around downed palm trees and flooded areas at times proved difficult. Ouellette said they had to be careful where they stepped so as not to fall into holes. Floodwaters also were tainted by raw sewage.

He and other volunteers walked through flattened trailer parks and deserted communities providing help, but were ordered out as Hurricane Frances approached.

“Our biggest concern [was] that we were leaving and knew this big storm was going to come in behind us,” he said. “We felt sorry for these folks being left out there on their own, but we had no choice but to leave.”

Ouellette caught the last train out of the area and arrived home Friday. Other volunteers returned to Florida on Sunday to continue relief efforts.

Aroostook County is continuing to do its part to provide disaster relief. The emergency-management agency is looking for qualified people, such as members of the local community emergency response team, to provide relief assistance in Florida.

The Aroostook County branch of the American Red Cross was open over the weekend to send local inquiries on the welfare of family members or loved ones affected by the hurricanes, according to branch manager Larry Harrison.

Local Red Cross disaster volunteer Romeo Bouchard of Caribou left Sunday to provide assistance in Florida as a disaster services human-resources volunteer, Harrison said.

Bouchard, who has been trained to help during national disasters, will work in a shelter or a food operation during his three-week stay.

Harrison said local residents should not attempt to go to Florida and help on their own. Instead, they can provide donations to help with the efforts already under way there.

“Right now, probably the best thing to do would be to give a financial contribution to the Florida hurricanes [relief efforts] through the Red Cross,” Harrison said. “The funds will go directly to national headquarters to be used in those operations.”