Why This Chemical Incident Matters

Tom Mueller 0:07

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Leading in a Crisis Podcast. On this podcast, we talk all things crisis management with a focus on crisis communications and stories from the front lines of crisis responses. I'm Tom Mueller. Quick reminder if you want to email the show, you can drop me a line at Tom at Leadinginacrisis.com and always love to hear from you. And just a quick uh show note update. Um, this podcast is currently ranked number 13 in the state of Texas for management podcasts. And that's from the good folks at FeedSpot who do um podcast monitoring, rating, and connect content creators uh with those needing content. So thanks to those guys for that rating. On our show today, we're continuing our coverage of the chemical incident that occurred in Orange County, California over the Memorial Day weekend. So long holiday weekend. And unfortunately for the residents in Garden Grove and Anaheim, California, uh, a local company had a runaway thermal reaction in a storage tank that threatened to detonate and um do massive damage through those communities. So local authorities evacuated some 50,000 people between Garden Grove and Anaheim. So it was a horrific time for folks there. Uh we have two other podcast episodes up now that take a look at the communications aspects of the of the response. So I encourage you to see those. But one of the things that really captured my attention in this response was the crisis website that was created for this, or one of them. And uh my guest who's with me today is Victor Tran. Um Victor as a private citizen created uh a very, very well done website that became a resource for people in the community. So we're gonna talk to Victor about what the heck was he thinking getting into this uh and see what kind of feedback he got. Hey, Victor, welcome to the show. Hey, Tom, thanks for having me.

Meet Victor Tran And His Skills

Speaker 2:26

Hey, before we get too deep in, uh, give us a quick um just thumbnail about you. What's your background? How'd you get into web design?

Victor Tran 2:35

Yeah, sure. So I graduated from Long Beach State back in 2021. I had a degree in computer science. So naturally I was inclined uh with my degree background to have the experience to build a website. But um yeah, after I had picked up my degree, I worked a job as a software engineer over at Farmers Insurance, working on a lot of backend systems for about three years. Left recently to pursue my graduate degree at UC Irvine. Um studying human-computer interaction and design now, and I'm set to finish my degree in September. And um, that kind of led me to interning over at SAP. They are a global supply chain company. Um, there's an office in Newport Beach, so it's not too far from where I live. Um, but yeah, that's it's a little bit about me. Outside of that, I love playing pickleball with my girlfriends, um, going on runs, um, just like staying active in general. Very cool. And how long have you lived in Southern California? Uh born and raised. I'm still here. Yeah. Okay. And do you own a surfboard? Are you a beach guy too? Uh wish. I mean, I enjoy the sun, but I cannot surf for my life, sadly. Um, something I gotta pick up for sure. Yeah, me either. I've tried. Yeah, although I did give kite surfing a real run for its money too at one point, and that was yeah, that was dangerous, really. But fun trying to learn it. Okay.

Building A One Stop Crisis Website

Tom Mueller 4:04

So um uh Victor, I was just fascinated. I became aware of your website uh when I was looking at video from one of the press conferences, I think, or it was one of the uh critical incident updates that the the incident commander did. And right underneath of that, you were posting, hey, I've got this other resource website, come check it out. So um it looked like it was it was working for you. What what was it that prompted you to create this website all on your own? Yeah, so I think with any incident, there's going to be a lot of information, and with that, there's gonna be misinformation, there's going to be a lot of different resources, and it's gonna be very hard on the people in the moment to actually dig through all that and try to figure out what's right, what's wrong. So I wanted to take some mental load off the people uh who were affected by this crisis and took it upon myself to make sure that I was betting resources properly. Um, so I was taking updates from City Hall, using that to automatically update the website, and also looking into social media. There's a lot of restaurants providing free meals, um, gyms were providing free showers. A lot of those resources would go unnoticed if people weren't really looking for them. Because if you're to put yourself in the shoes of those people, they're more worried about moving around, figuring out how to take care of themselves. They're not, they don't have the time or the resources to kind of spend time on social media, dig through everything. So um that that was my inspiration to kind of put everything into one place. Um, that was a reliable and trustworthy place to go to. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just showing uh for those who are listening to the audio podcast, I'm just showing uh one of the pages, the homepage really on Victor's website that lists a variety of resources across it. Um where there's a tab here for transportation, one for food, one for mutual aid, one for housing, uh, etc. So a lot of information here, Victor. Was this sort of a full-time job for you during the spill?

Victor Tran 6:15

Yeah, I mean, I was I was staying up, not sleeping. Uh the first night I kind of took this on, I slept for like an hour. Um, just spent all night designing it, putting it together, uh, figuring out a good domain name that was catchy, but not to like not to take advantage of anything, but to keep it memorable and easy to go to. Um, so that that was a lot of thinking, and I was um pretty tired by the end of it, but it it ended up being very useful for people. For those who want to check out the website, you can find it at ggspill.com. That's like gardengrovespill.com. But ggspill.com have a look.

Pulling Official Updates Into One Feed

Tom Mueller 6:59

Yeah, now one of the things uh that I thought was super helpful uh was you pulled in the RSS feed from the Orange County Fire Authority and all of the posts they were making out on the X platform, which was that was really the information source for this incident, was the Orange County Fire Authority. Uh and they did just a terrific job keeping people updated with that. And um, so tell me tell me about that. Was that um super easy to set up for you?

Victor Tran 7:32

Um honestly, uh it was a little difficult. I mean, I I have the background and experience to take these kinds of projects on, so uh was able to figure it out after a little bit of messing around with, but um in terms of difficulty, I I'd say it was like like a six out of ten. I don't know. I mean, um I I mess around with these systems a lot. Uh I have the degree in it, and obviously with AI nowadays, um, been able to use it in a productive and meaningful way um to kind of help the community. Yeah. Okay. Well, I want to since you brought up the AI thing, one of that's one of the things everybody's sort of thinking about today is how do we use AI? Were you able to apply some of those tools to help you speed this process along as you were setting up the site? Yeah, for sure. It helps um with designing the website, it helps with um structuring, making everything functional. Obviously, there are a lot of things I needed to clean up along the way, but um the technology is so good nowadays where it's able to move as fast as I can think. Um, so I think a big feature is the translations. Um, a lot of different kinds of people in Corton Grove and Orange County in general. So um, without those language translations, a lot of people were kind of left lost. And I thought it was a useful thing. And uh AI was able to help me translate across seven different languages, yeah. Yeah, okay, terrific.

Tom Mueller 8:58

Now, the after gosh, it was sometime on Saturday, I think, where we started seeing the translations incorporated onto the videos uh that were coming out of the Orange County Fire Authority. Uh, and that was super helpful. But then uh, so what were you doing with translations? What did you choose to translate and put on the site?

Victor Tran 9:20

Yeah, so honestly, it it was supposed to address um almost every piece of information on the website. So anything you saw in English, you could basically read it in Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, uh, Japanese. There's a whole bunch of different languages. Um, obviously, there's a whole lot more people out there of different language preferences, but I I tried to hit on um the major languages that the city uh that the city provided, and also from feedback that I got from friends and family. So great.

Community Feedback And Shelter Outreach

Tom Mueller 9:51

And what uh what kind of feedback have you gotten from the community about the website? Has it all been positive? Um mostly positive.

Victor Tran 10:02

I mean, there's always a couple people out there who um have their opinions on things, but I tried not to uh let that bother me too much. Um I wanted to benefit people for the greater good, so I think I accomplished that goal. Um people can you know think what they think. But um yeah, I funny story, I I'd actually came out on I think it was on Monday, on like I guess the later half of the incident, and I was going out to uh Freedom Hall, um the crisis shelter, and I was just had a little piece of paper with the website link on it, trying to go tell people about the website. Um and as I was going around, some some people were picking up on it, and um they they actually recognized me and they said it was a useful resource um that they were checking back on in on like from time to time to kind of find resources. So um it wasn't like a whole lot. I overall I had like 11,000 people visit the website over four days. Um, so it was definitely something that um people were relying on. So I felt like a responsibility to make sure that I got the word out. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Did you pop into any of the shelters as well? Yeah, just one of them. The the one based in uh Fountain Valley. Um, and that was good. Uh, I think that helps and getting to talk people get getting to talk with people there. I think it was um very meaningful, getting to thank the first responders out there, um, just you know, connecting with the community a bit more, yeah.

Tom Mueller 11:32

Okay. Well, it was just super cool to see you doing this and doing it as a volunteer and that. Um, did so I'm curious again on the feedback loop from the Orange County Fire Authority or from the city uh of Anaheim or Garden Grove. Did you hear from those guys at all about the site?

Victor Tran 11:53

Uh no, I was a small fry. I mean, just a single guy out here trying to help. Um, they're busy doing their own thing, taking care of the situation. So I I was just doing my own due diligence to kind of help take care of my people.

Tom Mueller 12:06

Well, very cool. And yeah, and you're right. When uh everybody was super busy the whole weekend trying to do this, but um, again, as I was scanning resources, I'm based in Houston, but I became aware of the incident very early, and I was following very closely throughout the weekend just to see, you know, how are communications rolling, how are people getting on through this? And um, you know, your site to me stood out as a really nice um resource for people there. So, congratulations for that, and one more thank you um for all the stuff you've done there. Yeah, of course. Any um now have you ever done something like this before? Is this kind of a first?

Victor Tran 12:50

Uh this is the first time. Um, I had inspiration from my girlfriend where she had wanted to develop a like a resource website previously, and uh it was a project idea that we didn't fully take advantage yet, but uh I saw an opportunity here and uh took that inspiration and I ran with it. So okay, yeah, and it and it worked out really well. Yeah.

Practical Ways To Help Safely

Tom Mueller 13:13

Um any any advice to someone else who might uh find themselves in a situation like this where there's something happening in their community and uh you know putting up a side what would you advise?

Victor Tran 13:27

Yeah, I mean, as I was going out there into the crisis shelters uh across Orange County, I mean, um I had met people along the way who were trying to figure out ways to help, but there weren't tangible ways, um, no centralized way to just provide time um or resources on their own. So uh I felt the same way. But I kind of looked at my skill set, what I could do as a person, and I I tried to figure out how I could provide value in a in a safe and meaningful way. So um really I think you can rely on your friends, you know, get together. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, you know, just go get some bottled water, some basic things that people need to survive, and you know, go out and provide donations officially through Red Cross if you can, uh depending on whatever shelters there are out there. But um yeah, besides from just buying things, donating things, I think uh the real fulfilling thing is you know, as a human, figuring out what skills you got and how you can meet people where they are and you know see what they need. Yeah.

Tom Mueller 14:33

Great. We have terrific humanitarian instincts. You've got work in there, Victor. So well done. Yeah. Well done. Okay. Um good. Anything else you'd like to add uh about the experience, you know, highs, lows. Did you have a lot of fun? Did your girlfriend help you out? I saw you dedicated the site to your girlfriend, which is sweet.

Victor Tran 14:58

Yeah, of course. I mean, it it really came from her, uh, my inspiration. So um, I think that's it was a natural thing for me to put on there, just a shout-out. Um, so but um yeah, I mean, highs and lows, I think the lows are definitely the sleepless nights. Uh-huh. Um, but it almost like it felt like this is like what I've been working for my whole life. Like I've been just going to school, doing all the studying. Um, you know, yeah, I earned a paycheck at the end of it, but I mean, I I wasn't really helping people in a way that like mattered to me. So that's why I pursued a degree in design now. Um, and then I found this opportunity to kind of apply those those skills because um I think organizing information in a way that's easy to understand, uh reliable, it's hard to find. You know, it's it's really hard to find nowadays. So um I thought it was a very fulfilling experience for me. So it was a very high moment for me. So to name a high. Um it was I think uh just something I've been working towards my whole life, and I was able to finally uh kind of do what I've been training to do.

Tom Mueller 16:07

So all right. Well, well done again. I know the community is grateful to your efforts here, those sleepless nights, and all that gathering information, making it available to people. Um, so terrific. So I'll add my thank you to it because you made my job a lot easier just keeping up with what was happening out there. So it's really a fantastic job. So kudos to you, sir. Yeah, really appreciate you, Tom. Yeah. Um, what's uh what's your ideal job now when you finish up your degree? And uh what would that look like as you get back into the job market?

Victor Tran 16:43

Yeah, I mean, right now I am an intern over at SAP, so I'm doing design. I'm helping my team learn more about AI in a way that matters and is safe and effective. And so um, in terms of like my future job prospects, uh, I'd love to figure out if I could stay at the company or uh if another opportunity arises, uh obviously I'd love to go work as a product designer or someone who does design engineering um to kind of help my community to you know just find more moments like this where I could, you know, maybe not as critical and scary, but um, you know, day-to-day, like community building, um, being a resource of people who who need people who are, I guess, technically inclined and able to understand what people need. So yeah. And just helping translate this whole new AI world and what does that mean?

Tom Mueller 17:42

And yeah, how do we, you know, the people who are successful in the workforce of the future are people who know how to harness AI to work more efficiently, faster, all of that. Uh, but it's uh it's drinking from a fire hose right now, figuring all that out, right?

Victor Tran 17:58

Definitely, yeah. Um, it's it could be scary, it could be overwhelming. Um, yeah.

Tom Mueller 18:04

It could be the end of the world, but we're hoping not. Right. Yeah.

Tom Mueller 18:08

All

Closing Thanks And Final Thoughts

Tom Mueller 18:09

right. Okay. Hey, Victor, um, thank you so much for joining us uh on the podcast today. Really appreciate you. Yeah, Tom, thank you so much for your time. Uh, love the work you're doing here. Uh, would love to keep in touch sometime if you ever need anything. Um, you know where to be uh you know where to reach me. So that's awesome, Victor. Thank you. And that's gonna do it for this episode of the Leading in a Crisis Podcast. Thanks for joining us and special thanks to Victor for joining us and for all his efforts on behalf of the folks there in Orange County in Southern California. We'll see you again soon on another episode. Take care.