Tad Agoglia went to seminary, and then he started driving dump drucks into disaster areas. It’s a unique ministry that was highlighted by CNN this week:
Agoglia is the founder of The First Response Team of America, his self-funded, nonprofit, nomadic, four-man cleanup crew that provides immediate, emergency aid to areas hit by disasters.
Since May 2007, the team has helped thousands of victims at 15 disaster sites across the United States and has rapidly become a recognized name in first responder aid.
“The most critical phase of a disaster is the first few days,” Agoglia says. “That’s when you have to find the people that are in desperate need of medical attention, food, water.”
Agoglia bases that conclusion on more than four years of on-the-scene experience. When his company, Disaster Recovery Solutions, was hired to clean up after storms like Hurricane Katrina, he noted that days — even weeks — routinely passed before authorities began establishing recovery operations.
Local response officials were often debilitated by a loss of resources, and aid organizations arriving early on the scene with water, medical care and food were unable to reach those in need because of road-blocking debris or flooding.
“I got this crazy idea to use one of my cranes to respond immediately to a disaster and just open up roads,” Agoglia recalls. “So I deployed equipment immediately. And sure enough, there was a need.”