Elizabeth McQuern - writer

by Elizabeth McQuern

(special feature published June 2008 in the Indianapolis Star)

First responders are hard-working people we all depend on in urgent situations. They are the first on the scene after a car accident, an earthquake, or a fire. They calmly help us in our most helpless moments, when we're panicked and vulnerable. There are critical decisions to be made, and urgent medical care to be administered. In frightening, unforeseen situations, they put their own fear aside at a moment's notice to reassure and help members of their own community, and outside their own communities.

George Callahan is a first responder, a logistics specialist with Indiana Task Force One, an Urban Search and Rescue team staffed by 210 people. Indiana's Task Force One, like 28 others across the United States, was created by FEMA in 1992, to respond quickly to any type of disaster where people might be lost, trapped, or hurt. When in action, it consists of five strike teams including Search, Rescue, Hazardous Materials, Medical, and Logistics.

"Ready for anything"

What does a logistics specialist do from day to day? "We're like the National Guard," Callahan explained. "We're always on call, ready for anything, ready to go anywhere. I make sure we know where we're going, how we're going to get there, arrange for food and lodging, make sure all the first responders have everything they need - portable generators, and any other equipment they need to do their job. We make sure when they ask for something that we've got it, and it works." They are on four hour notice to respond, travel wherever they are needed, and be self-sufficient for at least three days during the initial phase of their mission.

Callahan and his team are always training and always prepared for quick deployment to rescue victims of natural and man-made disasters. "We've done it all," Callahan says. This is also true for his career before Task Force One. Callahan became a volunteer firefighter in the city of Lawrence, Indiana in 1969, and served until 1993.

On the scene at the World Trade Center

He was not yet on the Task Force One team in 2001, but because of his role on the Lawrence City Council from 1983-2003, he had possession of a city pager, which doubled as a firefighter's pager, and so was among the first to hear about the airplanes hitting the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001.

Within moments, Callahan and his wife, who also works in the field, sped to the Indianapolis International Airport to help the Task Force team assemble and gather supplies. Soon, he was asked whether he had a commercial driver's license and whether he'd be willing to drive a truck to the East Coast. He said yes. At 4:00 pm on September 11 he left with 73 others headed east, with an undetermined destination.

Callahan and the Task Force team drove toward the East Coast all night, eventually getting word that rather than heading to the Pentagon, which had also suffered a direct hit by a commercial airliner, they were going to work at the World Trade Center. The Indiana team arrived in New York City at about 8:30 am on September 12 and set up a base camp 100 yards from ground zero. Callahan helped set up a forward base of operations and he and the team immediately settled into a routine of two twelve-hour shifts, from 7:00 to 7:00. They were there for a ten day deployment, and kept tools clean, supplies available, and emergency workers prepared.

"Expecting the unexpected"

How do Callahan and other first responders deal with the nerves involved in working in such stressful situations? "99% of our folks come from a first responder or firefighting family background," he explained. "So they're used to expecting the unexpected."

Their regular training also helps them fall back on rote procedures in the heat of the moment, and reflect and analyze later. "These big events - Hurricane Katrina and the WTC work, they're pretty traumatic, but our folks just go in and do the job. After the fact, we debrief. We talk about what we could have done differently, what we could have done better, and we learn every day from our experience."

What drives a person to life as a first responder? "The spirit of adventure," said Callahan, "and the desire to help. Someone's got to be there. And the satisfaction of knowing you've maybe made a difference in someone's life, or diffused a situation, and calmed someone in a trying moment. We see people at their worst, and knowing we were there to help gives me a warm sense of satisfaction."