Interview conducted by Communications Intern Emma Naclerio

It was extremely cold on the afternoon of February 3rd, and my boyfriend Bailey and I were driving to Plattsburgh from the Saranac Winter Carnival.

 To get to Plattsburgh from Saranac Lake, you pass through a small town called Vermontville. We noticed an enormous cloud of thick black smoke. I grew very worried that it was a house fire. I just had a gut feeling. Bailey was hesitant, but I was insistent that we should just go towards it. My first thought was to just help whoever was in this horrible situation. As we got closer to the smoke cloud, it was clear this was a major house fire.

Bailey and I arrived at the fire scene around 2:20 pm. No one else was nearby, and at this point the house was still standing. I had an idea of where I was but not the exact address, so when I called 911, the responders had to ping my cell phone. There were cars in the driveway and at first, I was not sure if the people were out of the house. It took about 15 minutes before the fire trucks came. They started putting out the fire, but the house collapsed from the flames.  Shortly after, the family arrived to see the house was destroyed.

 The family just seemed utterly devastated. I approached them, and they informed me that they had just come back from skiing. At this point, my Red Cross training kicked in. I directed them to call the 1800 Red Cross number immediately. While we waited for the Disaster Action Team (DAT) to arrive, I found out the family of five had just built the house and was in the process of moving in. Now, this opportunity was ripped from them. It is a lot to take in…a lot of loss and a lot of grief.

Thankfully, I had my DAT kit with me to be able to provide some assistance to the family the three young children. One of the children had medical issues and had lost a lot of prescription medications in the fire. I figured I could play games with the kids for distraction, and so I began doing this while handing out comfort kits, and stuffed animals. It was Incredible to see how calm the kids were, but being that they were so young, they could not comprehend what was going on. To make matters worse, they also lost two pets in the fire, and it really hit the family hard. There were a lot of tears, and frustration. There is this idea of loss, where you had something…and now it is gone. You built a home, and you lost it, and that is unimaginably hard to wrap your head around.

That day, I got the opportunity to practice what I had trained for. I have always wanted to do something with my life that had value and could repay some of the assistance I had received when I was younger, and in a disadvantaged situation.

When I joined the Red Cross, I began with DAT training and then found out about Americorps. I am a senior at UAlbany, getting my degree in Recreation, Sports and Event Management and Communications.  I applied for the Americorps position and was so lucky that I was accepted and am able to teach preparedness and give back to the community.

The Red Cross training really helped me throughout this experience, but there’s training, and then there is the drive to do something. I could never imagine myself in a state of loss like this family was, and just seeing it happen just made me want to stay and be comforting. This was an experience that I continue to think about every day. It is also memorable because it made me aware of response times from emergency services in rural areas and the need for more preparedness trainings in those communities.