Veteran-led organizations assist in Hawaii wildfires relief operations - VA News

Teams from Veteran-led organizations are assisting in relief operations on the fire-stricken island of Hawaii.
Project DYNAMO and Team Rubicon are among the Veteran-led organizations with crews on site in neighborhoods devastated by the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century. In Maui, blazes consumed the historic tourist town of Lahaina, destroying nearly every building in an area with a population of 13,000.
The death toll stands at at least 114, and hundreds of people are still unaccounted for. Thousands of people have been displaced.
The air and ground team of Project DYNAMO, a non-profit rescue organization, has participated in “Operation Ohana Safe” on Maui. Ohana Safe means safe families. Project DYNAMO teamed up with a local company, Air Maui Helicopter Tours, to help with evacuation efforts in Lahaina, where entire city blocks have been incinerated.
`These situations are very, very dynamic’
Project DYNAMO began its relief efforts by rescuing people and has since added humanitarian drops including food, water and clothing.
Bryan Stern, founder and CEO of Project DYNAMO, is an Army and Navy combat Veteran with more than 25 years of experience in hostage rescue and counter-terrorism operations. He’s leading his organization’s four-person team that has more than 100 years of experience combined in rescue operations.

“These situations are very, very dynamic,” he said, during the relief operation in an interview with 9 News Australia. “They change every hour. Some of the roads are opening up. Some of the infrastructure is coming back to life. But it’s really terrible. They’re running out of food. They’re running out of supplies. There’s lots of people that are homeless… These terrible situations also show the best of humanity. So when there is a catastrophe, there’s some goodness that does come out of it.”

Team Rubicon, a humanitarian organization that responds to natural disasters in the U.S. and around the world, unites Veterans with first responders to form emergency response teams. Local volunteers from Team Rubicon are in Maui helping those impacted by the wildfires. The volunteers are supporting with logistics, donation management, crowd management and traffic control.

“Our priority is assisting those in need and the safety of our [volunteers],” Team Rubicon said in a statement. “We will follow the local warnings and advisors and understand that the priority is search and recovery operations. We will ensure any [volunteers] deployed to the island will have a positive impact and will not take away needed resources from survivors.”


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