[Hartwood] [northern] Fw: [Autumn War 2013] A Tale of Heroes (Please Forward Far and Wide)

[doerksen at island.net]

These are people of valour and grit... Well done!

Halima al-Rakkasa
-- 
http://www.island.net/~doerksen/

Tue 10 Sep 2013 03:22:11 PM PDT, quoting Ken Dolphin <kldolphin at shaw.ca>:

> Facebook
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dave Levin
> To: Autumn War 2013
> Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 1:40 PM
> Subject: [Autumn War 2013] A Tale of Heroes (Please Forward Far and Wide)
>
>
>                   Dave Levin posted in Autumn War 2013
>                        Dave Levin 1:39pm Sep 10
>                         A Tale of Heroes (Please Forward Far and Wide)
>
>                         Good Greetings People of An Tir!
>
>                         I, Dafydd Caerfyrddin, Event Steward of  
> Autumn War 2013, write this day to tell you all of deeds heroic and  
> noble. As most of you may already know, Autumn War was beset by  
> Thor’s wrath, on Thursday, September 5th. When it became evident  
> that the road into site was going to be impassible, we, along with  
> Mr. Nix, made the decision to close site and go into disaster mode,  
> for the safety and health of the populace, which was one of the most  
> difficult decisions I have ever had to make, as an Event Steward.
>
>                         This was considered a Level 2 disaster, we  
> had our resources at absolute max and were cut off from county  
> support due to our roads and to the degree of involvement (read  
> overwhelmed, esp. with Chehalis) of the County we'd be calling on in  
> need.
>
>                         Once we went into disaster mode, Magnus  
> (aka, Bubba), clan leader of Clan Draugadrottin, opened his  
> longhall, to me to use as a Command Center. This way I could  
> coordinate things that were happening, with my team. Magnus also  
> offered to allow people to come and stay in the longhall to get warm  
> and dry, have coffee and food, thus setting up the first of our  
> warming stations.
>
>                         House Gravis Negotium, set up the Disaster  
> Response Center, in their camp. This camp was a focal point so that  
> people could come and find out news and information, find out who  
> had dry areas available, who had room to put up people who’s tents  
> had collapsed, etc. This center was constantly manned by Clare  
> Keenan, Ranulf of Kintyre, Arnora Joradottir, Lianor Pereia do Valle  
> and Thistle Sinclaire. At least one of them was in camp at all times  
> to distribute information and to relay information back to me. These  
> people worked tirelessly and with little or no sleep for 36 hours.  
> They were the backbone of the operation and kept people from coming  
> directly to me, so that I could concentrate on weather reports,  
> communicating with the outside world, and coordinating the efforts  
> on site. If you meet one of these people, at an event, please thank  
> them for all of their hard work.
>
>                         Clan Carn set up a warming station in their  
> dining hall and, although part of the hall was a lake, they had many  
> people availing themselves of the warm fire and camaraderie to be  
> found there. When I visited them, they were feeding people, in a big  
> family style gathering and had boots under each of the fire pits,  
> drying them out, everyone seemed to be in jolly spirits.
>
>                         Temple Caffeina also had a warming station  
> and, from what I understand, was offering free coffee and food to  
> any who needed it. I mention this, specifically, because Temple is a  
> business, but they suspended their sales to take care of people in  
> need.
>
>                         Sylver Stone and the Sylver Sail Armada, not  
> only, opened their camp to anyone who needed a warm dry place to go,  
> but they immediately opened their kitchen to all comers. I believe  
> that over 100 people (of which only about 10-15 were his own  
> people)were given warmth and food by this hero. I cannot thank him  
> enough for ensuring that people had warmth and food and  
> companionship. The people there were joking and cheering each other  
> with jokes and jibes. People inside and out were working on whatever  
> they could, to help.
>
>                         On Friday morning, we continued in disaster  
> mode, waiting for Thor to calm. I had been told of a gentle from  
> House Gremlin, Pyke Geirleikrson, who was outside the gates, and had  
> spent the night in his car, at the gas station near site. We were  
> able to get message to him, at around 7 AM and he came to the gates  
> to inform those who hadn’t gotten the word of the road being washed  
> out. This gentle spent the entire day making sure that people didn’t  
> clog up the cul-de-sac outside site. He directed people to go to  
> town and wait to be called and set up a phone tree, and called those  
> on the tree, once site opened. He was able to keep his calm, while  
> graciously diffusing the frustrations of people trying to get on site.
>
>                         We had numerous people, who were off site,  
> who helped in great ways. Wulfwyn was giving us hourly weather  
> reports, from numerous weather sites. Marike Sigrunasdottir (now  
> Baroness Marike) was posting updates, to the populace, as quickly as  
> I could get them to her. We couldn’t have gotten the information we  
> needed, without them, nor could we have gotten the information out  
> to everyone off site, without them.
>
>                         Friday afternoon, when it became apparent  
> that the next storm cell was going to pass us by, we decided to  
> re-open the site. We needed to re-route some roads and create a new  
> parking area that wasn’t a muddy bog. The people of House Gremlin,  
> immediately jumped into action and re-routed two roads and blocked  
> off 5 roads that were unusable. These wonderful heroes came together  
> and worked very quickly to make it so people could come to site and  
> not risk being stuck in the mud. They accomplished this in under an  
> hour. Incredibly, although I’ve tried to find out who was in charge  
> (the head of the household was off site), they all seem to feel that  
> every one of them was responsible for helping and they would be  
> remiss in taking credit for being in charge.
>
>                         While House Gremlin was working on the  
> roads, House Leannans, under the command of Thorgan Oarsman Gamr,  
> very quickly went to work, creating a new parking area, again,  
> accomplishing this in under an hour. They also continued to work  
> parking and gate, once we re-opened the site.
>
>                         Master Tvorimir Danilov was our Chirurgeon  
> in Charge, who went out and recruited numerous medical personnel,  
> who wish to remain nameless, in case of any medical emergencies.  
> Master Tvorimir, selflessly, went out during the storm to make sure  
> that people were being taken care of, going from camp to camp,  
> checking to make sure no one was suffering from hypothermia,  
> directing people to the warming stations and spreading good cheer.  
> He was able to find those medical professionals who don’t act as  
> chirurgeons, because they want to do something other than their  
> modern professions in the SCA. We had an EMT, a Registered Nurse and  
> a retired firefighter, who volunteered to be of service, if the need  
> arose.
>
>                         Elonda Blue Haven, who was in charge of  
> Gate, was available and had gate open, the moment we decided to  
> allow people back on site. She moved a table and all of the gate  
> supplies out to the road, because the gate tent and surrounding area  
> was a small lake, and ran gate from the time we re-opened site, at  
> 5:00 PM until 10:00 PM and was back at gate at 7:00 AM, throughout  
> the day, on Saturday. Although we had a few volunteers, she worked  
> tirelessly, constantly checking in to make sure we knew what was  
> happening. This wonderful lady spent the entire 11 days of the event  
> at gate. I don’t believe she got to see any of either event.
>
>                         Ellisif Leifsdottir, who had 5 inches of  
> water in her tent, selflessly volunteered to do town cries, to let  
> people know that we were going to re-open the road, so if they were  
> going to leave site, they could get ready.
>
>                         Aleksii Konstantinovich Chernoi, went out in  
> the rain to pull someone out of the mud and muck, who had tried to  
> leave site, before we closed it, and had gotten stuck. This was the  
> deciding factor in closing the road/site.
>
>                         Lastly, but certainly not leastly, our  
> incredible site owner, Mr. Bob Nix, with the help of Master Voladar,  
> spent the entire night, Thursday night, redirecting the water, to  
> the best of their ability, to minimize the damage/danger to the  
> populace. Mr. Nix, stayed in constant contact with our team,  
> throughout the entire time, graciously offering to do whatever we  
> felt needed to be done. His was the only vehicle allowed to move  
> about site (since he knows the site so well) and was able to  
> evacuate one person who was having a medical issue, as well as  
> taking one person to town, so they could purchase more food and  
> propane, to feed as many people as needed. I have never worked with  
> a site owner who is so incredibly willing to help us with our  
> events, whether there are issues or not.
>
>                         In closing, I am positive that I have missed  
> many details and may not have remembered all of the Heroes of this  
> disaster. There are far too many people who helped, during this  
> situation, to be able to mention here. Please understand, if I have  
> missed your name or deeds, it was definitely not intentional. There  
> are many people who didn’t make their efforts and deeds known to our  
> team, however, be assured that we couldn’t have pulled through this  
> without the efforts and cooperation of everyone. I thank you and  
> applaud you, An Tir!
>
>                         Yours in Service,
>
>                         Dafydd Caerfyrddin
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