The group of Team Rubicon volunteers in Haines came from California, Washington, Colorado and Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Sylvia Heinz)

Haines residents recently saw major progress with debris removal from last December’s storms. The assistance came by way of Team Rubicon, a California-based nonprofit that brings volunteers to help with disaster recovery. KHNS’ Corinne Smith reports.

Volunteers with Team Rubicon, known as “grey shirts” hammer in flooring reinforcements, and begin final cleanup on a two story, hillside home that was flooded out and destroyed in last December’s storms. 

“It’s essentially becoming a brand new house in a way,” said Joshua Strange. It’s his first deployment with Team Rubicon, which is mostly veterans and first responders volunteering their time to do disaster recovery missions around the world. He leads the way to the ground floor, now stripped to the studs and cleared out.

“So the bottom floor we totally deconstructed,” Strange said. “And we ripped out all the insulation, all the ceilings, we pulled up all the flooring because it was just totally moldy and full of muck.” 

Joshua Strange shows off the progress made on the ground floor of Lemmie Spradlin’s home, which had been flooded with water and debris up until last week (Corinne Smith/KHNS)

Strange is a 10-year veteran of the US Air Force from San Diego, California and decided to volunteer after finishing college and before starting a new job. He’s one of 11 volunteers that traveled to Haines. 

He says he’d signed up to help with earthquake recovery in Haiti, but was deployed to Alaska. For the past week he and the group have been removing debris from nine properties, loading 43,760 lbs and then dropping it off at the dump. He said it feels good to be a part of a mission.

“I came out here, I didn’t know what to expect,” Strange said. “But most of these guys are veterans, and they’re all very hard working, it was incredible to join the team and just be part of something, where you actually see the difference that you’re making.”

Lemmie Spradlin’s truck and garage were flooded during last December’s storms (Corinne Smith/KHNS)

Brian Rougie is a veteran of the Army National Guard and was deployed to Iraq in 2003. He lives in Haines and says he’s been interested in volunteering with Team Rubicon for a while. But this was his first time.

“It was daunting, you walk in and like oh man, this is going to take forever, but with a lot of people, you just keep moving,” he said. “I feel lucky to help out and pitch in locally, so that’s pretty cool.”

The Southern California-based organization was invited by the Haines Long Term Recovery Group, to help with debris removal, which has been a top priority, along with housing, since the deadly December storms. It’s part of a federally funded project, and residents have up to September 18 to collect debris for removal.

Haines Long Term Recovery Group coordinator Sylvia Heinz says it’s a major step forward.  

“It’s just amazing to see it happening, because since the snow melted, it just seemed impossible,” she said.

Volunteers loaded several containers to haul to be disposed at the Haines dump (Photo courtesy of Janine Allen)

This is the home of Lemmie Spradlin. The 83-year-old has lived in Haines for the past 20 years, and has lived alone in her modest two-bedroom home on Mathius Road since her husband passed away more than a decade ago. On December 2, she woke up at two in the morning with water pouring through her front door. She said since then, she’s felt numb.

“That numbness has not left me yet. (It’s) a deep numbness inside, something was going on that I had no involvement with and had no idea what to do about,” she said.

Her home was effectively destroyed by water and mud. She’s been living in a converted garage, with rental assistance and support through local non-profits. After the snow melted, she began catching the senior bus and returning to her property most days to try to clean things up but could not afford the labor or dump fees. She said she’s grateful to Team Rubicon, and just wished she could have prepared them a meal. 

 “Any of them wander back to town, as long as I got a floor space they’ll have a place to get in and shelter. As long as I’ve got food around, they’ll have some belly waddin, and that’s just how it is. The Rubicon guys will always be welcome,” Spradlin said. 

Lemmie Spradlin, 83, wants to return to her home (Corinne Smith/KHNS)

Now, her home is stripped to the studs and there’s no running water, but it’s ready for construction and there’s still power. Spradlin says she needs a culvert dug to divert the water, new flooring, walls and appliances, and she’ll move in. It’s her home. 

Spradlin’s home is about half a mile uphill from Haines’ Main Street. Team Rubicon mucked out the house, cleared natural debris from the property, and sorted and salvaged items into dry storage (Corinne Smith/KHNS)

The volunteers with Team Rubicon are about done with a final cleanup of her property, and they’re ahead of schedule by a few days.

“We’ve been able to exceed expectations, and that’s a good thing,” says the group’s Incident Commander Craig Dickerson.

And so the team gets to play tourist. They’re headed to Haines’ Hammer Museum.

“We’re really excited about that,” Dickerson said. “We checked the map, saw that was a thing here, and just have been over the top, so big thanks to them for opening up for us.”

The group departed Haines last Sunday. But they say they’ll be back if needed.