FireFighterNation

By Jane Jerrard
Published Thursday, September 1, 2011 | From the September 2011 Issue of FireRescue

What kind of information and assistance does your department offer people whose homes have been destroyed by fire or other type of disaster? Do you provide any advice, recommendations or resources to help get them back on their feet—or simply deal with the first steps of recovery?

In San Diego County, fire departments spend just one to two minutes with disaster survivors and yet they’re still able to give them all the advice they need. That’s because departments across the county are handing out The Red Guide to Recovery, a small but comprehensive book that outlines what to do when faced with a disaster and its aftermath, from board-up to insurance claims to grief counseling.

Filling a Need
The Red Guide was created by Sean Scott, a building contractor who specializes in disaster restoration. “I’m called out to a home in the aftermath of a fire or a flood or after a car crashes into a house—anything of that type,” Scott explains. “In all these events, I saw people go through the same things, and I’ve had a couple of [house] fires myself, so I know how traumatic it can be.”

During the massive wildfires in Southern California in 2003 and 2007, Scott witnessed mass confusion and disorganization. “People didn’t know where to turn or who to trust,” he recalls. That sparked the idea of sharing his expertise through step-by-step instructions for those whose homes have been damaged or destroyed. “I started putting down all the information I knew, starting with securing what’s left of your property,” he says.

The Red Guide is very carefully designed. It’s small enough to fit in a back pocket or purse, and it features wire-o binding so a user can leave it open to a specific page. Each section in the guide is color-coded for easy navigation, and the inside back cover has a pocket for business cards, Red Cross vouchers or the fire department’s supplemental materials.

Although the guide includes a wide range of information, Scott’s main focus was on helping people avoid shady contractors who prey on recent survivors. “There are lots of people out there who listen to [EMS] scanners, and when they hear about a fire or other disaster, they just descend,” he says. “They’re all looking for that insurance money.” So Scott began The Red Guide with a “Quick Start” section. Its headline reads, “Buyer beware! Do not sign any contracts before reading this!”

Fire investigators or incident commanders who distribute The Red Guide point this out to survivors, saying “read this right now”—a very important message, apparently. Scott says, “I had one fire investigator call me recently to tell me she’d given the book to someone after a fire. [Some time later], they called her to say thank you for the warning. They had been swarmed by five or six contractors as soon as she left, and were protected by what they learned in the book.”

A Natural Connection
After conceiving the idea for The Red Guide, Scott did some research and discovered that fire departments didn’t have ready-made recovery materials to give to disaster survivors. So he approached August Ghio, president of the San Diego County Fire Chiefs’ Association and fire chief for the San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District. “All I did was listen to [Scott], think it was a great idea and get it going,” Ghio says of his involvement.

Ghio brought the idea to the San Diego County Fire Chiefs’ Association, stressing that this would be a simple solution to help residents. “It was an easy sell,” he says. “Everyone knew this would fill a real need. It doesn’t duplicate anything that was already being done.”

The association made adopting the guide an initiative, and solicited funding from the Red Cross, the County Board of Supervisors and the County Office of Emergency Services (OES). All three contributed funds; the OES even won a FEMA Homeland Security grant for $70,000 to produce The Red Guide. A portion of the proceeds goes to benefit the Burn Institute.

The San Diego County version of the guide was published in September 2010. All fire departments in the county can get as many guides as they need for free. “They give it out all the time—not just for big disasters, but after a kitchen fire or something like that,” Scott says.

“We originally ordered about 6,000 copies for all first responders’ vehicles and chiefs’ vehicles,” Ghio recalls, “and we have an agreement to get more copies as needed.” Ghio estimates that the county distributes 4,000–5,000 copies a year, and adds that a Spanish version of the guide is also now available.

Not only have San Diego fire departments embraced the guide, but the San Diego Burn Institute also presented Scott with the San Diego County Fire Chiefs’ Association Maltese Award at the 39th Annual Spirit of Courage Awards last May.

Coming Soon to a Department Near You
The Red Guide to Recovery is currently available in a California state edition, with a national edition to be published as soon as demand requires it. Scott recently launched an iPhone app of the guide (available at the Apple App Store) and is planning an e-book version as well. But he’s eager to customize the guide for other states, counties or regions. “My goal now is to work with larger departments or communities to get this in the hands of more fire departments or EMS services,” Scott says. “The custom versions could be funded by government or corporate sponsors—the goal is to not force fire departments to use their own funds.”

To browse a condensed online version of The Red Guide to Recovery or to learn about ordering an edition for your area, visit www.theredguidetorecovery.com.

Ghio would also like to see more departments distribute the guide and says he is “more than willing to share how we got this going, if anyone wants to do it. I can almost guarantee that you can do it without spending any local dollars.”

If you’re interested in learning more, e-mail Sean Scott at sean@theredguidetorecovery.com or e-mail August Ghio at aghio@smgfire.org.

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  Jane Jerrard

  Jane Jerrard lives in Chicago and writes regularly for FireRescue magazine. Read Full Bio

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