Every Second Counts – An Interview with the German Aid Organization @fire
“We function and work together like a family.”
At the beginning of August of this year, a huge explosion shook the Lebanese capital of Beirut and the residents of that city. The cost was horrific: at least 220 people were killed and another 6000 were injured, some seriously. Roughly 8000 buildings were destroyed or damaged and between 200,000 and 300,000 people were left homeless by the event. A mere one day after the disaster, the German aid organization @fire, supported by the Hilti Foundation, was already on site with a rescue team.
Johannes Gust (JG) helps to coordinate the team’s activities from Germany. Hilti employee Markus Stengele (MS) was in Beirut as a member of the rescue team. In the following interview both men discuss the course of events and the special challenges of this relief action from their very personal viewpoints.
You are both fully engaged in your professional lives and your work for @fire is 100 percent voluntary. What are the personal decision-making processes you use to decide on participating in this kind of relief action?
JG: As a self-employed person like me, you have to quickly decide if you can spontaneously leave the day-to-day business. From then on your attention is 100 percent focused on your work and you are busy with it from morning to night. One’s own company then becomes completely secondary and is on hold.
Disaster Relief - Beirut - @Fire - Hilti Foundation - Disaster Assistance Programs
Of our approximately 200 @fire members, at least two thirds have no time or opportunity to participate in an emergency mission. Everyone has to see if it’s even possible to be released from work by their employer. Some of the people receive permission but others have to use their vacation. But once the decision has been made, the typical @fire spirit emerges: When colleagues are on assignment, you do almost everything for them. You mobilize enormous forces to make things possible. This is especially true for those @fire helpers who are not in the limelight and who only work in the background.
MS: I have three children, so the first person I have to contact is at home: my partner Sonja. Her OK has priority. Additionally, I’m lucky that my employer, Hilti, is very accommodating and supportive of making such deployments possible, but only if there’s nothing urgent in the pipeline or if something has to be immediately looked after. This was not the case here.
When did it become clear that an @fire team would actually be sent to Beirut?
JG: The International Search and Rescue Advisory Group, a UN organization, operates its own intranet which serves as a coordination center and where current information from the UN and other international organizations is linked. This is where we learned that Lebanon requested help from the UN. We therefore informed the Lebanese embassy in Berlin about our willingness to help on site with our own team. The ambassador himself then called us and asked us for help on behalf of the Lebanese government.
How fast did it take until @fire was ready for action?
JG: In these types of disasters our internal preparations start even before we receive a final “go” for deployment. If you wait until you receive an official document, it’s usually already too late.
First of all, we set up a task force, which operated essentially from Germany and in which I was a member. There is no central @fire operations center, but the 16-member coordination staff which was all over Germany and, in some cases, in neighboring countries. We communicated and coordinated almost everything via the Internet and telephone. We checked the operational equipment in our warehouse near Cologne and brought some of it to the airport in Frankfurt.
At the same time, an alarm SMS was sent to our volunteers, informing them that a mission in Beirut was imminent and asking them to tell us who was ready for action. In our pool of more than 200 volunteers, experience has shown that anywhere from one-third to one-quarter of the volunteers are ultimately considered for such an assignment. After receiving their feedback, we then check internally to see which volunteers are shortlisted because they have all the necessary qualifications for the assignment: from completed training courses to the vaccinations required for the region. In the end, about 25 to 30 people were left, of whom 13 were finally deployed. This included, among others, a German army doctor, a civil engineer as well as two search dogs and their handlers.
One of the biggest challenges in the run-up to the mission is to find flights for the team and equipment at short notice. Sometimes you negotiate for hours to ensure that an airline will take you and not charge for every kilogram of excess weight. With 2 tons of equipment this is not an insignificant financial factor. And the whole thing has to be organized for the return flight, of course. We almost always try to fly scheduled flights during our missions, because even in the event of a disaster, scheduled flights are one of the last things to be cancelled. Larger aid organizations with their own planes are usually not on site any faster.
MS: After I had been selected as a team member, my deployment began the next morning at 3:00 a.m. at the Lindau railway station, where I took the train to Frankfurt airport. I always have the 18-kg basic equipment pack for such missions with me at home. I belonged to the second group that was flown to Beirut and our plane contained the appropriate equipment and tools for the mission.
How can one imagine the daily routine in this kind of exceptional situation? Both as part of the coordination staff in Germany and as a member of the emergency team in Beirut?
JG: Our staff worked around the clock in shifts. This was primarily in order to provide our on-site team with all important information and to be able to help quickly if there were questions or problems. Additionally, we also naturally took care of areas such as logistics, finance and media. And we took care of all the paperwork so as not to burden our people on site with additional work.
MS: When we arrived, the entire area of operations was already divided into individual sectors and we were assigned one of them by the local coordination office - in Beirut the military was responsible for this. After an initial survey, we then gave feedback on which areas were particularly badly damaged. Our information, together with that of other aid organizations - including very accurate, high-resolution satellite images - was then fed into an intranet accessible to all aid workers on site. In this way, an up-to-date picture of the situation was quickly obtained.
My first task was to place and focus motion detectors and measuring sensors that would warn the emergency services with loud beeps if buildings were threatening to collapse. Then I accompanied Dennis and his dog Sheeva with a search camera, metal detector and cutting and drilling equipment. Once the search dog indicated that there were still live people under the rubble, it would have been my task to locate them with the camera through small openings, to supply them with water and food and to rescue them if we could.
However, our squad did not find any people, which had to do with the fact that the explosion happened in the harbor area after the close of business. If it had happened earlier, around 2:00 p.m., instead of after 6:00 p.m., and in the immediate vicinity of residential areas, there would undoubtedly have been many more dead. After two days, the military finally ordered the search for survivors to be stopped. On days 3 and 4 I was with a structural engineer to check and assess what was in severe danger of collapsing or what was still accessible.
The Hilti Foundation supports @fire with technical tools and equipment. How were they used in Beirut?
MS: We not only work with Hilti equipment ourselves, we were also able to hand over equipment to the fire department in Beirut, with whom we worked very closely and very well during those days. On the last day, two Hilti employees and I trained the local commanders on using drills, angle grinders or reciprocating saws so that they can perform their tasks better and more efficiently in the future. The tools they had at their disposal were often only hand saws or ancient equipment. It was nice to see how our modern, high-quality equipment noticeably boosted the motivation of the local team members. I still get photos from Beirut, showing where and how they are using the Hilti equipment.
Operations were additionally complicated by Covid-19. What preventive measures were taken in this regard?
JG: The first team that arrives on site usually sets up an initial coordination unit at the airport. Due to local corona regulations this was not possible on this mission. All team members first had to undergo a Covid-19 test at the airport and remained isolated for a few hours until the negative test results were available. Only then were we released for local deployment. And on the return trip on Monday all members of the team had to have at least one Covid-19 test. All negative. In the meantime, all of them are back at work as usual.
MS: Ouch. That brings back painful memories. When we arrived, there was a fully equipped control line where the staff inserted these long cotton swabs so far into our noses that we bled. The whole thing was very painful and very strict. Only after a negative test result could we start working. Later in the camp there were paramedics or doctors who constantly checked you. They only used less painful throat swabs and temperature measurements, thank God...
At what point was the assignment considered complete and the @fire team could return home?
JG: A mission only ends when the entire team is back home safe and sound. And then, of course, there’s the subsequent work that follows. Some members of the emergency team are still in daily contact with the emergency services there. We are also planning further training sessions - beyond the online exchange that takes place - with the fire department in Beirut after the end of the initial stage.
MS: Our team worked until late in the afternoon on Sunday and was then transferred to the airport in the evening. Our plane then left at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning.
What conclusions can be drawn from the relief work in Beirut?
JG: It was a very successful mission for @fire, because we proved once again that we are a small but valuable relief organization that can be counted on in case of emergency; that we can be deployed quickly and flexibly and can fulfill all the tasks we are given.
Even though we were unable to find and rescue any survivors due to the special situation in Beirut, we were at least able to quickly confirm that no one remained alive under the rubble. An enormously important conclusion for all other recovery and reconstruction work, and of course for concerned friends and relatives. We were also able to provide valuable assistance in assessing the damage to buildings.
The assignment in Beirut also proved that @fire can work together smoothly with much larger teams in a real disaster situation using a new concept, the so-called "Light Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Teams" - teams of only about 20 people in total. And we do this in accordance with international standards recognized by the UN. The official certification for these new Light USAR Teams by the responsible UN institution should have already taken place, but has been delayed due to Covid-19.
What personal experiences do you take away from this assignment? Is there a moment or thought that remains especially vivid in your memory?
MS: There was a very special experience for me in Beirut: I was invited to attend the funeral of the Lebanese firefighters who died in the explosion. It was very emotional, because one was aware of the feelings that the colleagues there went through and yet still managed to take care of their daily business as professionals. And frankly, the next day, when we handed over the Hilti equipment to these colleagues in Beirut, was also a special moment for me.
@fire
Founded in Germany in 2002, the non-profit aid organization @fire, with its more than 200 members worldwide, provides rapid emergency aid in fighting forest fires and rescuing victims after earthquakes or other disasters. The emergency responders are primarily employees of professional fire departments, voluntary fire departments and rescue services with appropriate professional training and experience, who also work voluntarily and without remuneration for @fire's international relief operations.
Founder and general manager of a testing and consulting company for facilities and technical safety. He has volunteered for @fire since 2003. He currently on the board and serves as USAR project manager. Johannes Gust is 40 years old and lives and works in Osnabrück, Germany.
Has worked as a chemical laboratory technician in the field of diamond tool development since 2010 at the Hilti plant in Schaan. He is a member of the local 40-person company fire brigade and of the voluntary fire department in Rankweil. He has been a volunteer for @fire since 2015. Markus Stengele is 43 years old and lives in Rankweil, Austria.