The Aftermath of Unexpected Emergencies: From Santa Cruz to New Orleans

When the Santa Cruz Wharf partially collapsed, it left more than just broken pilings and debris—it raised questions about safety, emergency response, and long-term resilience. In this episode, we dive into the aftermath of the collapse, including the challenges of cleaning up the piles of debris that washed ashore and the unexpected lessons learned about preparedness. We also touch on the recent mass casualty event in New Orleans that highlights how planning—and sometimes the lack of it—can define outcomes when disaster strikes. Along the way, we've got some practical safety takeaways and real-world insights you won’t want to miss. 

Life Safety Associates specializes in emergency response training for corporate ERT Teams. We help businesses create competent and confident first responders who are ready to handle unexpected emergencies. For more information you find us @lifesafetyassoc or email@lifesafety.com.

Chapters

• 0:24 Santa Cruz Wharf Collapse Aftermath
• 6:50 Santa Cruz Wharf Debris Safety
• 20:54 Firefighter's Perspective on Keeping Safe

Transcript

Jimmy: 0:24

What's happening?

Megan: 0:26

You're watching it.

Jimmy: 0:29

It's your boy, jimmy, with another Life and Safety podcast, and once again, megan and I start on the different pages when we record. I literally looked at her and watched her hit the record button and probably look at megan and said are you gonna start like what is happening here? Um, wow, one of these days we'll get this right. So it's your boy with megs another life and safety podcast. Um, today is our first day back. I guess, actually it's our third day back since the New Year's and holidays and stuff like that. Right, yeah.

Jimmy: 1:13

We've been doing a lot of meetings and admin stuff and just generally good housekeeping.

Megan: 1:19

Getting ready, resetting for the new year.

Jimmy: 1:21

Yeah, zero fun. Definitely hard for me to get out of bed for that. But here we are and a lot of crazy stuff happened while we're on vacation. The world is crazy the last couple of weeks, yes, you know, more so than usual, it feels like. So we'll start off with something local, then we'll talk about something, you know, that happened that definitely affecting us in more parts of the world. Um, but the first thing is is we're going to talk about the santa cruz wharf collapse pretty wild it was crazy so nuts um the first video that I saw of it online, I was like is that ai?

Megan: 2:04

what? What is this? And I was like wait, no, that's that's what I was like maybe it can't be the Santa Cruz wharf what wharf is this? And I'm looking and I'm like no, that's totally the Santa Cruz wharf. I don't know. I just don't expect those things to happen. I expect it from Florida or some other place. I don't expect it to happen to a place I know and love.

Jimmy: 2:22

Right, yeah, no, we were super bummed. Our family likes to spend the weekend before Christmas in Santa Cruz Just a good vibe, really nice. The weather is always kind of usually pretty good Cold but sunny, overcast, you know, nice to be each day and just to kind of reset. That's where Jenny's hometown, so it's always nice to go home and reset. And we don't get to go to my hometown too much, especially in this time of the year because of the snow and all the people, so it's nice to go and just be chill.

Jimmy: 3:04

And we were actually there the day it collapsed and we were staying in a hotel close by there and we actually got a text from the hotel saying don't enter the hotel from X street, go from a different street. And I was like what? And then they in the text. They were like yeah, there's a mass water rescue going on. The wharf collapsed. And we were like what water rescue going on? The wharf collapsed and we're like what? And I got a text message from some family members going hey, are you in santa cruz? Are you on the wharf? Are you okay? Like what's going on? Because they know we like to go out on the wharf, go to the shops and eat at the restaurants and get hot chocolate. And marianne hannies, how do you say that word? At Marianne's?

Megan: 3:47

How do you say that word Is?

Jimmy: 3:50

it Marianne's. I always get messed it up. My wife always gets mad at me.

Megan: 3:55

There's the ice cream shop and then there's the separate one that has a similar name, but on the wharf it's the candy shop. They're not the same and it always messes me up. Same, I should know. I grew up in Santa Cruz, but I don't.

Jimmy: 4:05

Yep Samesies Without cruise, right, I don't yep samsies, um, and without jenny here to correct me, I'm gonna mess it up. So the candy shop on the wharf has the best hot chocolate you ever got. I'm sure you've had it. Do you remember all the whipped cream, the fudge piece, all the stuff? It's just amazing, um, so we were bummed. Obviously we were bummed for that. We couldn't do that. That was a tradition when he gets to do. But we were very stoked that everybody that they rescued was okay, right, it was interesting that was crazy.

Megan: 4:39

I mean the video of the, you know basically just the dolphin floating, that's the um restaurant at the end of the wharf and then with the people standing on it and they had the bobcat or whatever yeah, the little bobcat tractor just floating on the debris.

Jimmy: 4:54

That was crazy with the driver of it just standing there going.

Megan: 4:56

Uh, I don't know what to do, like hello yeah, yeah, it was crazy.

Jimmy: 5:02

The best part about that video for me was when the bobcat operator was arguing with the lifeguard because he didn't want to jump onto the Sea-Doo or into the water, and you could see him arguing with him like no, I'm good, and he's like no, you've got to get on this thing. And he's like no. And then he finally talked him into doing it. He jumped on the back. I guess he didn't want to ride on the back of a Sea-Doo. Yeah, oh man, yeah, um, oh man, um. So that was really interesting. We went down to that night to the lost boy trestle, where it I don't think the whole dolphin went in, I think just the bathroom, just the bathroom just the bathrooms went.

Jimmy: 5:41

So the bathroom at the end of the pier or the wharf, excuse me and they floated um to the head of the Slander River, right there underneath the trestle, by the boardwalk, and we walked down and, in the fog and really cold, dark night, got to see it at night. It was really neat, but that was fun. And that was an adventure, because we walked down the railroad tracks in front of the boardwalk and the Christmas light train was there. Oh, fun, because we walked down the, you know, the railroad tracks in front of the boardwalk and the christmas light train was there, and oh, fun. So we got to walk past that and, you know, santa scared us because he was standing above the thing and he goes hi, kids, and we're like we're gonna expect him to yell at us from over the thing. So that was fun, um, but yeah, that was neat. Uh, very, very though, but we've heard about it. We're like, oh, my god, the whole wharf is gone. That's what we were thinking, that's awesome.

Jimmy: 6:34

It was just a tip, yeah, which is interesting that they were trying to fix, to rebuild that part of it too, and then that's the part that falls in.

Megan: 6:43

Which I feel like is a good thing that it was blocked off and repaired, because I feel like it's a good thing that it was blocked off and repaired, because I feel like that saved lives, or injuries at least.

Jimmy: 6:50

Absolutely.

Megan: 6:51

Because there was only what three people that got dumped in the water.

Jimmy: 6:54

I heard it got up to eight Got up to eight. Yeah, yeah, but the craziest waves, though, were those harbor waves. Did you see the video of the harbor?

Megan: 7:05

Yes, my friend's family has. They call it their yacht. It is in fact a kayak. Got it, but in their harbor it was like uh, my boat, yeah, it's going away.

Jimmy: 7:18

Yeah.

Megan: 7:19

And, like they were there, so they took videos of it, because they have a house that overlooks it. And just like I was.

Jimmy: 7:25

Like that's crazy, yeah, have you seen the ones with the two deathful Santa Cruz surfer dudes locals.

Jimmy: 7:32

No, and they're like, damn bro, that wave's surfable, what you know. And they were like f word this and oh, you can see that fudge. You know all this stuff and it was hilarious. Listen to their commentary. But great video. But it's wild, the crazy things that happen. So you know, definitely it changed our lives. Unfortunately, it cost somebody their life, you know, swimming in the debris. There's a thing called natural selection, for a reason, yeah, you know. So a couple things team, let's not burn the debris on the beach.

Megan: 8:22

Yes.

Jimmy: 8:23

There's no reason to burn the debris on the beach. Megan can share that story from this weekend.

Megan: 8:30

Yes, so for New Year's I spent it in Santa Cruz and my friends and I wanted to walk along the beach, check out the debris along Seabright beach. Um, there is still so much debris, um, and, like you can see whole chunks of the wharf and it's crazy, um. But as we got there on the first, um around noon, there was a fire crew that was leaving after having put out a big flaming pile of wreckage that was on fire for who knows why, um, but it was all like sectioned off with caution tape, but it was like you know, we're already dealing with enough. The part of the wharf already collapsed. Why set it on fire? For what?

Jimmy: 9:16

do you mean it was kids letting lizards on fire? Yes, running in the debris.

Megan: 9:21

Oh, so maybe you can answer this from your perspective.

Jimmy: 9:23

What's that?

Megan: 9:24

Why might somebody set something on fire like that?

Jimmy: 9:27

Because it's fun. I jest, I jest. I think it's because a couple of reasons. One I think it's just kids being kids.

Jimmy: 9:39

And it's fun to light things on fire and to see what happens and they probably thought it was safe and, to a degree, probably is pretty safe. But the flip side of that, don't do that. You know fires go in certain spots for a reason. If that's a big bonfire and it's on fire and it collapses because wood falls apart when it burns, when it lands on you, it's going to hurt you. You know it might be. There's a huge homeless population in Santa Cruz and it's been really cold here and foggy on the coast, so maybe they just felt like they needed to warm up. Yeah, you know, I get that too, but don't do it.

Jimmy: 10:27

Another thing, team, not to do is when the government and the city officials and lifeguards and fire department are telling you not to stand on a cliff or be near that stuff. Don't do that. Like, listen to them. Yeah, we watched the next morning. I guess it was Christmas Eve morning.

Jimmy: 10:50

We walked back out to see if the bathrooms had moved anymore and there's people standing at the edge of the cliff. People standing at the edge of the cliff and, to be fair, there's walkways up there but there's a fence that you have to climb over to get to the walkways. And I tell my kids all the time you can go anywhere you want, as long as there's not a fence you have to climb over and as long as there's not a locked door you have to go around. Right, be a explorer, go do your thing. But if you step over a fence and you walk out someplace and you fall off the cliff, somebody has to go get you. Mm-hmm, and we can see the lifeguards from the Santa Cruz Fire Department telling the people stay away from the cliff. And we can hear them on the megaphone stay away from the cliff.

Megan: 11:47

Yeah.

Jimmy: 11:48

And I was just thinking God, those poor guys. If those people fall in, those guys have to get into their suits, into their cold water and go and get them. Right-hmm, right, and that's yes, it's their job. Mm-hmm, yes, that's what they signed up to do. I get that, I did it. But you don't have to make the job harder by being selfish and not obeying the rules, Mm-hmm, you know. So when you get those alerts, are they sometimes not warranted? Can you still do things and it's probably safe? Yeah, but when Should you? Should you? No, when 50 people are standing around someplace and 20 people fall in, or 10 people fall in, heck, even one person falls in. That's four people. So think, two lifeguards plus their backup, so that's four people at least have to watch and go get that one person. So if it's four people for one person and 10 people fall in, we're trying to get in a perfect world. Never happen. 40 firefighters, 40 lifeguards to go rescue those people.

Megan: 13:10

That's not going to happen.

Jimmy: 13:12

They don't have that many. But even if they get 10, that's probably maxing all the resources out for that area. Right, because you decided to step over a fence and look at a bathroom building floating on a river, granted, granted, you don't see that every day, no, and granted, you're looking for the wicked witch of the east underneath it. It could happen, but all right. But those are the things that we don't really want to, you know, go do so. Just be thoughtful, mindful of things. Yeah, you know, it's cool to get a cool picture, it's cool to get a good saying. You're thinking, jimmy, you went and looked. You're right, I did look from the ground, from behind danger tape. I didn't do it, I didn't get close. My iPhone zooms in really far. The magnifying feature on my thing zooms in really far and it takes a picture. I don't need to get that close. There's something to think about.

Megan: 14:18

um, another safety thing is um, I saw a bunch of like children and well, I guess dogs are always barefoot, but um, along seabright beach, where all of the debris is, I saw a bunch of children like running barefoot through the debris, which terrifies me because the amount of like just rusty nails sticking straight up, like because the board's upside down and there's like 12 nails or screws in it, I just was like so scared I was like, oh my god, you guys are gonna impale your foot on a like tetanus nail. So just, you know, proceed with caution. If you go check things out, use your brain. There were a bunch of signs, you know proceed with caution. If you go check things out, use your brain. There were a bunch of signs, you know, saying proceed at your own risk, like don't go in the water. Debris is dangerous and you might not see it. And you know, be careful along the beach because you know those screws are no joke and just be careful, you know some people's children.

Jimmy: 15:21

Yeah, my friends and.

Megan: 15:22

I, whenever we could, if there was like a board with nails sticking up right, if we could flip them so that they weren't sticking up, we could. Or if we could like my friend had steel toed boots on so he kicked the nails down as much as they could so they weren't sticking straight up. But still I mean, we couldn't do it for all of it Sure Very thoughtful. But it was still. You know, there were bits of. You know, every time I was like, ah, I don't want to watch, I don't want to watch.

Jimmy: 15:47

Yeah.

Megan: 15:48

The adults, I mean, were also barefoot, but I was less scared for them. It's like the kids didn't know better. The adults obviously didn't know better either. Yeah, I don't know the judgment, that's happening in my head right now is so bad.

Jimmy: 16:06

I had shoes on Good. Yeah, the other crazy thing that happened. One of the other crazy things that happened was the New Orleans, you know car attack yeah.

Jimmy: 16:21

Super sketch Very. What I always talk to my family about with that is we can't live in fear and we're just going to go live our lives the best we can and hopefully, you know, bad things don't happen. But if they do be prepared Just like any medical, any earthquake, anything else happens be prepared and both of my kids can drive now I'm lucky and use the word can drive loosely, it's just it is what it is One's a little bit better than the other one, you know, and that changes on the way the wind flows, because they, yeah, yeah.

Jimmy: 17:14

Can is different than should can is different than should, can is different than should, and good is different than okay. And passing the driver's test, you know there's minimal qualifications, for a reason. Um, now, with that being said, you know we always have a, always have a loose plan if something like that happens. Obviously, dad's going to do the best he can to help out. Obviously, safety first, I'm going to make sure I'm safe and the kids are safe and the wife's safe, and they're going to run away and get to the car. And since we can all drive, we all have car keys, that way they can drive themselves home, get themselves away from it. Um, our plan is to get to the car, be there for 10 minutes and hopefully everybody else shows up, and then we all know there's a 10 minute rule. Once that 10 minute hits, go, get home, get someplace safe, and we have safe spots for all the places we travel. We talk about it.

Jimmy: 18:18

Now, you know, in those mass casualty incidents like that, you know you have to help people the best you can, and I don't really carry any medical gear on me. The only thing I carry on me is a pen, usually and a notepad, but mostly a pen only and just even if you can triage people. You know breathing, not breathing deceased. You know what have you? And have other people because people are going to want to help, right? I think Mr Rogers said always look for the people trying to help because those are the good people. I believe that's what he said. I probably butchered that. Um, and sometimes people want to help but they don't know how to help. So if you can just tell somebody, hey, hold pressure here or hey, roll this person over, let them, you know, get that blood out of their mouth, let them breathe. Just taking charge and just helping out, like that is going to help. Obviously the positive thoughts and vibes and all those things that are we definitely want to send those people and their families.

Jimmy: 19:25

It's a horrible situation but if you have your first aid kit in your car and you're able to get it and you can render aid, definitely help. Have your first aid kit in your car and you're able to get it and you can render aid, definitely help. And another thing that I saw for that and here in San Jose there was a I'll tie this back together, I promise A Home Depot was set on fire. Yeah, I remember that. You remember that A couple years back and tons of people want to go look at it.

Jimmy: 19:56

Um, after the war felt, tons of people wants to go look at it. After the car went through the people, tons of people wanted to go see what it was right. Well, when you do that, you clog up the driveways for other resources. You clog up, you know what people are needing to be doing. You're taking resources away Because now, instead of 10 police officers investigating it, you have five people investigating it and five people doing crowd control. You know, and that's not that's a loose adaptation of that, but it does happen yeah so get away from it.

Jimmy: 20:39

I mean, if you have something to say and you saw it or you videotaped it because you're taping your kids tiktok or something like that, then definitely hang out and share that. But if you don't have to be there, don't be there. You're getting in the way. I actually talked to a firefighter um, a buddy of a friend kind of a thing and they were telling me that they went to the home depot fire and I said oh man, did you guys do entry? Did you actually go in? It's like no, it was way too hot. A couple guys started and then they had to get pulled out. They said what was the worst thing about that? He goes the people. There were so many people in the way.

Jimmy: 21:17

You know, heed those warnings, get away, get away. And that's another reason why they do send those alerts out is to keep people away so they can get resources there. They can get those things to happen. Don't fuel the flames, so to speak. Get away from it, yeah, um. So, with that being said, um, hope everybody had a happy new year and a good holiday season in general and we'll see you in the next time. Peace.