October 28, 2025 • 7 mins
As Hurricane Melissa slams into Jamaica, Grey Bull Rescue Founder and CEO Bryan Stern shares how his team is preparing to carry out critical rescue and relief operations in the storm’s aftermath. He explains how they coordinate with local authorities, what challenges they expect on the ground, and how listeners can support their efforts.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Go to the hotline and bring in the founder of
Graybell Rescue. Brian Stern is back on with us. You
can check out his organization all the great work they do,
and offer your support at grabel rescue dot org. Also,
as Hurricane Melissa makes its way to Jamaica, if you
have friends or family on the island and they need help,
(00:22):
they need to be rescued, there's a way for you
to request that help again at grabel rescue dot org. So, Brian,
thanks so much for coming on the show. You guys
were set up for something potentially involving Venezuela when Hurricane
Melissa shows up, and now you're pivoting to help there
(00:43):
as well. Tell us about the setup that you've got
going on right now.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, hey, Ryan, I are you great to be on
you know again sadly, sadly where Greable Rescue is called
again to help. Yeah. We you know, things of Venezuela
have been heating up on TV it's in the last month,
but before TV, it's in the last couple of months.
(01:09):
So we've been we've been building building, you know, Assuming
that Venezuela goes bad, that means that Colombia goes bad.
That means lots of Americans get stuck. So we've been
working on on on boat options, maritime options, area options,
all land options and routes, all kinds of stuff to
(01:30):
get people from Venezuela to Venezuela, you know, probably into Florida.
The best way to do that is in the Caribbean Sea.
So we find ourselves in the Caribbean and Mother Nature
decides to throw us a curve ball and uh and
and deliver us a Category five hurricane in the middle
of all those stuff. So we're dealing with that too.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Now, this isn't the first time the Gray Bull Rescue
has been involved in rescues tied to hurricanes. I remember
you guys did a lot of work in the aftermath
of Hurricane Ian here in Florida. So tell us about
those kinds of operations and how they differ a bit
from something like Venezuela or Ukraine or Gaza.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah. So so we've done my team and I did
Ian Idelia, Milton Helene, and also the fires in Maui
and the fires in La As natural disasters go, natural
disasters are different than than war zone deployments. It's really
an environmental thing. So where whereas in a war zone,
(02:37):
you're worried about missiles, you're worried about getting shot, you're
worried about getting arrested, you're worried about getting getting killed,
you know, all those kinds of things. But the end
of the day, the dirt under your feet is pretty stable.
In a natural disaster, it's the exact opposite, where no
one's shooting at you, everything is okay. The problem this
(03:00):
is that it's mud, it's nasty, it's flood it's uncontrolled.
Whether nature is not able to be controlled. Uh, there's
all kinds of toxic chemicals and toxic materials that happen
in these things where you'll see pickup trucks on on,
you know, the roofs of houses and stuff. So the
(03:21):
whole entire operating environment is very different. It's actually, i
would say it's way more dangerous. I'm always nervous than
after disasters. I'm never really nervous in the with the
war zone stuff, but not the disasters. The the every
step you take, everywhere you look is pretty horrible, and
(03:42):
a war it's not exactly like that.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
We're joined by the founder of Gray Bowl Rescue, Brian Stern.
You can learn more about all the great work this
organization does a gray Bole Rescue dot org. Is there
anything about this operation in Jamaica that is unique, especially
you know the terrain there obviously it seems like that's
(04:03):
going to be a big problem.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, there's a lot of different things. One is, this
is a Cat five hurricane, So all right, this is
a Cat five hurricane. When Helene came to Tampa, it
was barely a Cat four and kind of kicked our
ass a little bit, kind of you know, that was
a thing for Tampa. Tampa has building codes, we have
(04:27):
an awesome mayor, we have a giant fire department, a
giant police department. We have surrounding counties that also love
us and help us out, and all kinds of things.
And Helene was a very real when Milton was even
an even bigger challenge if we recall so if we
compare a almost barely a Cat four hurricane in a
(04:50):
place like Tampa and all the struggles that we had
with that, compared to a Cat five hurricane, a hard
Cat five hurricane, we're at one hundred seven a mile
an hour sustained ones in a place like Jamaica where
they don't have also police departments, and they don't have
the National Guard, and they don't have building coaches who
(05:11):
you do. And it's an island where no one can
drive to your rescue. You have to take a boat
or an airplane, and you can't take a boat or
an airplane in a hurricane. So all these different things
make it so much harder. Then let's say you know
Helene or Tampa in Helena Milton in Tampa. So you know,
(05:37):
if we go back to time and realize, oh my god,
like Helene, all the damage, all the hundreds. I have
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that I know
that are still fighting with their insurance companies and stuff,
and their houses are still messed up. Jamaica, there's a chance,
there's a big chance we'll know. We'll know in about
twenty four hours from now. There's a chance that Jamaica
is essentially not a race from the map, but rebuilding
(06:00):
a race from the map. There's a definite chance this
is these winds, thirteen to sixteen foot storm surge we had.
We had four to five in Tampa. Yeah, ten On
was the worst. So that's that's country wide. That's a
lot of water. That's a lot of wind in a
place where you can't get to it so easy. And
(06:22):
the buildings and the infrastructure that the there are not
designed for this. Nothing is nothing is This is a
really big deal. I don't know, I don't know anyone's
going to Jamaica for tourism.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, it's a real worst case scenario right now. Founder
of Gray Bull Rescue, Brian Stern. You can support all
the work that they do at grabol rescue dot org.
And again, if you have someone in Jamaica who, as
Hurricane Melissa bearsdown, needs help, you can also request that
help at grabel Rescue dot org. Brian always appreciate the time.
(06:57):
Thanks so much for coming back on and stay safe.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Thanks to your point. We are donor funded. Helicopters is
helicopters and airings they cost money. We we need financial help.
Grabel Rescue dot org. We're tax deductible. We love saying
thank you. If you're a business, help us out. If
you are. If you like people, help us out. If
you like kids, help us out. You like pets, help
(07:21):
us out, if you like Americans, help us out. We
really need it. This is going to be tough and expensive.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Again grabul Rescue dot org. Brian, thanks so much. We'll
talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
The Ryan Gorman Show on news radio w f l A.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show,
and find us online at Ryangormanshow dot com
Go to the hotline and bring in the founder of
Graybell Rescue. Brian Stern is back on with us. You
can check out his organization all the great work they do,
and offer your support at grabel rescue dot org. Also,
as Hurricane Melissa makes its way to Jamaica, if you
have friends or family on the island and they need help,
(00:22):
they need to be rescued, there's a way for you
to request that help again at grabel rescue dot org. So, Brian,
thanks so much for coming on the show. You guys
were set up for something potentially involving Venezuela when Hurricane
Melissa shows up, and now you're pivoting to help there
(00:43):
as well. Tell us about the setup that you've got
going on right now.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, hey, Ryan, I are you great to be on
you know again sadly, sadly where Greable Rescue is called
again to help. Yeah. We you know, things of Venezuela
have been heating up on TV it's in the last month,
but before TV, it's in the last couple of months.
(01:09):
So we've been we've been building building, you know, Assuming
that Venezuela goes bad, that means that Colombia goes bad.
That means lots of Americans get stuck. So we've been
working on on on boat options, maritime options, area options,
all land options and routes, all kinds of stuff to
(01:30):
get people from Venezuela to Venezuela, you know, probably into Florida.
The best way to do that is in the Caribbean Sea.
So we find ourselves in the Caribbean and Mother Nature
decides to throw us a curve ball and uh and
and deliver us a Category five hurricane in the middle
of all those stuff. So we're dealing with that too.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Now, this isn't the first time the Gray Bull Rescue
has been involved in rescues tied to hurricanes. I remember
you guys did a lot of work in the aftermath
of Hurricane Ian here in Florida. So tell us about
those kinds of operations and how they differ a bit
from something like Venezuela or Ukraine or Gaza.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah. So so we've done my team and I did
Ian Idelia, Milton Helene, and also the fires in Maui
and the fires in La As natural disasters go, natural
disasters are different than than war zone deployments. It's really
an environmental thing. So where whereas in a war zone,
(02:37):
you're worried about missiles, you're worried about getting shot, you're
worried about getting arrested, you're worried about getting getting killed,
you know, all those kinds of things. But the end
of the day, the dirt under your feet is pretty stable.
In a natural disaster, it's the exact opposite, where no
one's shooting at you, everything is okay. The problem this
(03:00):
is that it's mud, it's nasty, it's flood it's uncontrolled.
Whether nature is not able to be controlled. Uh, there's
all kinds of toxic chemicals and toxic materials that happen
in these things where you'll see pickup trucks on on,
you know, the roofs of houses and stuff. So the
(03:21):
whole entire operating environment is very different. It's actually, i
would say it's way more dangerous. I'm always nervous than
after disasters. I'm never really nervous in the with the
war zone stuff, but not the disasters. The the every
step you take, everywhere you look is pretty horrible, and
(03:42):
a war it's not exactly like that.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
We're joined by the founder of Gray Bowl Rescue, Brian Stern.
You can learn more about all the great work this
organization does a gray Bole Rescue dot org. Is there
anything about this operation in Jamaica that is unique, especially
you know the terrain there obviously it seems like that's
(04:03):
going to be a big problem.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah, there's a lot of different things. One is, this
is a Cat five hurricane, So all right, this is
a Cat five hurricane. When Helene came to Tampa, it
was barely a Cat four and kind of kicked our
ass a little bit, kind of you know, that was
a thing for Tampa. Tampa has building codes, we have
(04:27):
an awesome mayor, we have a giant fire department, a
giant police department. We have surrounding counties that also love
us and help us out, and all kinds of things.
And Helene was a very real when Milton was even
an even bigger challenge if we recall so if we
compare a almost barely a Cat four hurricane in a
(04:50):
place like Tampa and all the struggles that we had
with that, compared to a Cat five hurricane, a hard
Cat five hurricane, we're at one hundred seven a mile
an hour sustained ones in a place like Jamaica where
they don't have also police departments, and they don't have
the National Guard, and they don't have building coaches who
(05:11):
you do. And it's an island where no one can
drive to your rescue. You have to take a boat
or an airplane, and you can't take a boat or
an airplane in a hurricane. So all these different things
make it so much harder. Then let's say you know
Helene or Tampa in Helena Milton in Tampa. So you know,
(05:37):
if we go back to time and realize, oh my god,
like Helene, all the damage, all the hundreds. I have
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that I know
that are still fighting with their insurance companies and stuff,
and their houses are still messed up. Jamaica, there's a chance,
there's a big chance we'll know. We'll know in about
twenty four hours from now. There's a chance that Jamaica
is essentially not a race from the map, but rebuilding
(06:00):
a race from the map. There's a definite chance this
is these winds, thirteen to sixteen foot storm surge we had.
We had four to five in Tampa. Yeah, ten On
was the worst. So that's that's country wide. That's a
lot of water. That's a lot of wind in a
place where you can't get to it so easy. And
(06:22):
the buildings and the infrastructure that the there are not
designed for this. Nothing is nothing is This is a
really big deal. I don't know, I don't know anyone's
going to Jamaica for tourism.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, it's a real worst case scenario right now. Founder
of Gray Bull Rescue, Brian Stern. You can support all
the work that they do at grabol rescue dot org.
And again, if you have someone in Jamaica who, as
Hurricane Melissa bearsdown, needs help, you can also request that
help at grabel Rescue dot org. Brian always appreciate the time.
(06:57):
Thanks so much for coming back on and stay safe.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Thanks to your point. We are donor funded. Helicopters is
helicopters and airings they cost money. We we need financial help.
Grabel Rescue dot org. We're tax deductible. We love saying
thank you. If you're a business, help us out. If
you are. If you like people, help us out. If
you like kids, help us out. You like pets, help
(07:21):
us out, if you like Americans, help us out. We
really need it. This is going to be tough and expensive.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Again grabul Rescue dot org. Brian, thanks so much. We'll
talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
The Ryan Gorman Show on news radio w f l A.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Ryan Gorman Show,
and find us online at Ryangormanshow dot com
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