I have been reading about disaster prep for many years now. I am a server at a restaurant and that is my little niche in life. I make incredible money for what I do. I am interested in taking my disaster prep in a new direction now and wanted some advice. At a crisis scene there are hundreds of people working towards the goals of search and rescue, and that has been my goal as well, until now. I wanted to use my profession to its full potential in a disaster so I thought I would start to design a mobile kitchen to feed all the workers/victims. In the event of another 911 attack would an independant food vehicle be allowed to be there? I already have a plan for the foods and supplies as well. I have gone to all the local restaurants in the neighborhood and talked to the persons in charge about making donations in the event something were to happen and almost all of them said they would be more than happy to donate some food items, paper goods and the like. Over the next year or two I could build up quite an inventory of kitchen equipment and food service items using a small budget. I have the experience of cooking in the military(about a years worth of doing it in the field on mess duty) and that helps me with a lot of my thinking. Chime in and let me know what your thoughts are.

A importent thing, is to really investigate the need for such a mobile kitchen. If the red cross or other organisation already have such plans and equipment, than there really isn't a need. If the redcross has limited resources for a similair product, than you might look in to a coorperation with them to a certain point. This prevents people from working against each other and done properly also more efficient.

However keeping such thing private and very local however, will generally make them faster to react, but not as efficient in the long term.

i don't know about Ohio, but in my country you might be able to get subsidy

Recon,
Get in touch with your local 1st responder groups; SAR, Fire, Red Cross etc. Let them know what you want to do; they will most likely embrace what you are trying to do and they will help you find a way to get involved.
When I used to do a little SAR work the local sheriff's department always rolled out a big "chuck wagon" to feed us huge breakfasts and dinners. I'm sure under certain situations your local rescue groups will take advantage of your generousity.

Bill

Most major disaster cooking is done in Mobile Kitchens supplied by the Southern Baptists

They are one of the "VOAD"s Volunteer Organizations Active in Disasters

EACH VOAD has their own specialty, and they all have MOUs with each other. For instance, at least around here - Red Cross specalizes in overall management, and in aiding the clients - the Salvation Army specializes in providing services to the First Responders - not to say that BOTH groups don't do both - but while the RD is setting up the shelters, the SA will be feeding the fire crews etc - so they don't duplicate efforts

Thanks for the tip. I will make a bunch of calls tomorrow.

Incident Catering Service did all the food service in NOLA. I was told they got their start doing wildfire catering. 866-328-9111

They did, and they make good grub!

Yes, it was darn good, and the workers were very friendly.

Tips on logistics:
- Handtrucks. Get good ones with the soft, pnuematic tires, not those hard plastic things. If you've ever tried moving a refridgerator on soft ground or up a flight of stairs, you'll know why I say that.

- Lots of real milk crates- big enough to actually hold something, small enough to be managable, easy to inventory and real easy to clean.

A friend of my little brother did something similiar to this for his Eagle Scout project, as far as setting up the equipment. Not sure where the gear and the book of plans went afterwards, either to the state BSA council or to ARC. There were a lot of 55 gallon drums and pierced planking involved, for making stoves that could be run on solid fuel (aka wood), and cinder blocks, but it all worked.

Having some experience with national disasters, I can tell you that emergency agencies need the following items in a hurry:

Tow trucks (you can move just about anything other than the Twin Towers with tow trucks). People get trapped under stuff.

Water

Porta potties

And last but not least, food, then bedding, depending on the nature of the emergency.

In CA the agency in charge on most disasters would be the county sheriff (unless it becomes a NATIONAL DISASTER, in which case all bets are off). If that is the case where you live, I would suggest that you contact that agency, pass out business cards like mad, and really try to get on their good side, so that they will put you on their emergency call-out list...

I've worked on feeding operations for both the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Keep in mind that things differ from state to state, chapter to chapter and even disaster to disaster, but here's how things have worked here.

Red Cross doesn't really have strong mobile cooking resources. They do have ERVs, their ambulance-sized mobile feeding units, but those don't have any cooking capability on-board. Each chapter maintains one for local use and to deploy to other areas. Locally we did mobile feeding maybe 1 or 2 times a month at larger fire scenes, mostly for fire-rescue and law enforcement, but some times for those affected by the disaster. We either purchase food from suppliers (local restaurants) or get food from a church or a charity like Metropolitan Ministries. Despite working multiple declared disasters, I've actually never seen any of the Red Cross mobile kitchen units, but I believe they have them.

The Salvation Army does much more mobile cooking. Each of their mobile feeding units is propane-equipped and can prepare hot food. (Like the Red Cross, I believe each local Salvation Army "core" maintains a mobile feeding unit). They also have mobile kitchens that are very impressive. I worked a search and rescue staging area the first 36 hours after one of the 2004 hurricanes and the Salvation Army brought in their kitchen (18 wheeler trailer) and essentially turned the keys over to the SAR task force. We ate well that night. The kitchen is pretty complete and includes a walk-in fridge and freezer and space for palettes of supplies.

I think if you really want to make an impact, I'd start by talking to your local Red Cross and Salvation Army chapters. Both really are great organizations with a lot of good people, despite the occasional bad apples and mis-steps they've made. One of the two is probably doing food service (canteens) for firefighters at large fire scenes, which is the most regular need.

If it isn't them, there's probably a local firefighter union that either has or wants to start some sort of mobile feeding operation for first responders. They can be a little closed off to a non-firefighter but they might welcome the help.

Most religious denominations have some sort of feeding capability but to be honest, it's usually pretty slow in arriving and doesn't have anywhere near the impact of Salvation Army or Red Cross.

One of the almost desperate needs most of those organizations have is for self-starter kinds of people that can talk to companies and get them to agree to make donations, especially long before any disaster strikes. With the Red Cross we constantly had to find new suppliers for all sorts of things (hotels, restaurants, clothing, wholesale food, etc) and get purchase/donation agreements in place. I'm still amazed at some of the wheeling and dealing I saw volunteers pull off. I had a volunteer that I could call at 10pm "I need dinner and snacks for 75 first responders" and within an hour we'd be somewhere loading in a solid meal (not just Big Macs), all for free.

To confirm ratbert's post, here is an article by a Ham at the Long Beach, MS Salvation Army canteen we were at in September of last year:

Article

The cooking was mostly performed by various Southern Baptist groups, and delivered by Salvation Army vehicles from across the country.

That's normal - the reason I brought up NVOADs and MOUs is believe it or not, even though there is overlap (aka both the SA and ARC will do some feeding etc) is that on a NATIONAL level the groups have decided what each one will specialize in. Not that they all can't do some of what each can do, it just makes sense to specialize

Take a look at
http://www.nvoad.org/

I think you have a great idea, and I would like to give a recommendation to expand it. You have covered the part about your equipment and supplies. What I don't think you've tapped is the available resources of trained kitchen staff and servers in your area during a disaster. How many of these restaurants are going to be unable to serve customers during a disaster? What percentage of those individuals can you recruit before hand to help out? Instead of these individuals not having a role in a disaster, give them the opportunity to know that they will be counted on after a disaster, if they want to participate. There is going to be no entertainment of any kind after a disaster. The only way to distract yourself is to stay busy. Doing a job similar to what they do everyday will help.

Every individual and corporation should have a role in a disaster. Some corporations will not be able to fully function after a disaster, their business may be extremely limited. I can't think of any examples, but if a restaurant can't serve food because there is no electricity, or the roof is gone, all of the employees of the restaurant could work or volunteer somewhere else.

I have several servers/cooks/dish help lined up. I also have several musicians in the area that are willing to help with concerts/benefits. I have a small network of people that have skills like carpentry, masonry, and electrical to help rebuild or set up if I need it. I thought about making a portable bed and breakfast set up to give the rescue workers the best housing available during a disaster. They deserve it as they are willing to give their life to save other people. I also thought about just a hot water shower set-up. I was stationed in Turkey with Marines and it was cold as hell and the best thing there was the once a week hot shower, We used to go into town and rent a hotel room just so we could get a hot shower. If I were to go back there I would want a coffee house and a shower stall with me at all times. I was talking to my wife and I saw a portable library full of books. That was another idea I had ran through my head because I could get tons of books free or cheap but I think the coffee house would be appreciated more. I would think of it as a M*A*S*H* for java heads. M*U*C*H* Mobile Urban Coffee House.

We made it through Charley......we met my inlaws at a halfway point and they took my wife and the kids so they at least had electricity and water. I am 'essential personel' so I had to stay. One of the best moments was when a Wendy's was able to open up. We were just happy to have ACCESS to a hot meal that wasn't out of a can. What made it even more emotional was that the manager would NOT let us pay! I can't tell you how happy it would make the local responders. The smallest bit of 'normalcy' can have the most profound effect on moral. My hat is off to you. Good luck with it.

BTW I am pretty sure that there isn't a scene commander anywhere who would be crazy enough to tell you you couldn't set up shop. If not inside the 'area' then just outside.

One of the advantages of having worked as a camp cook for an outfitter (many moons ago), is that cooking in less than ideal conditions means being thrifty and practical. A couple good dutch ovens and a tool box full of utensils and a grub box and a 10 gallon jug of water will get about a dozen people fed and cared for for about a week. Add to that a fuel supply (propane and charcoal if I'm lucky, firewood if need be), and a good cook can get by fairly well.

Figure that if a few hundred thousand pioneers could make it work crossing the country, then why mess with success? You aren't gonna be able to feed everyone, but if you want to do your share, then you could do worse than a couple good cast iron pots and a cooking grate. Besides, everything tastes better cooked in a dutch oven over a fire, dontcha know?