When Terry Cassil retired, he knew his work as an emergency responder wasn't done.
Born and raised in Jamestown, Cassil spent 20 years with the Columbia Fire Department.
"I felt like I wanted to try to contribute and help out," Cassil said.
After extensive training, he became certified as a member of Missouri Taskforce 1 eight years ago. MOTF-1 is one of 28 volunteer urban search and rescue teams in the U.S.
After local resources have been exhausted during a state of emergency, local emergency responders will request individuals or a task force team to help.
Cassil serves as a safety officer during deployment.
His most recent mission with MOTF-1 was the eruption of Hawaii's volcano Kilauea in May.
"I was a safety officer at the forwarding operation base," Cassil said. "We worked on contingency plans we're sort of the 'what if?' people."
Cassil entered the area in July, on day 59 of the eruption, and stayed 17 days, making it his longest deployment.
"It's a situation where it's stressful for the members because we're not at home, we're not sleeping in our own beds," Cassil said.
Other deployments include the 2011 Joplin tornado, 2012 Hurricane Sandy and 2017 Hurricane Harvey.
Part of his responsibilities in Hawaii were keeping people out of restricted areas and air monitoring. Volcanic eruptions cause toxic gases to release, as well as dangerous lava fountains, thick smoke and ash.
He said the number one priority was, and always is, the safety of the public during an emergency. Although the team members are uprooted from their homes, he said they feel empathy for the locals, who experience the long-lasting impact of the disaters.
Cassil described the experience as humbling and felt fortunate to be deployed to offer more aid, but it's a call he's reluctant to get.
"We're always glad to go, when we're asked to do this I'm always challenged to do my very best," Cassil said.
For people interested in emergency aid, he said the best thing to do is get involved in local community work and see if there's a desire to put others first.
"There are volunteer service agencies in every community," Cassil said.
States of emergency rise to different levels, from thunderstorm warnings to earthquakes. As operations chief for the Missouri State of Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Cassil said the hardest part is to not become complacent.
"We don't know who our opponent's going to be we actually hope we never get in the game," Cassil said.
His daily role is to work on plans for the state, should an emergency happen. The common threat in Missouri is weather, ranging from the state's position in tornado alley to freezing precipitation and thunderstorms.
"My role as a safety officer for Missouri Task force 1 is much different than my role at SEMA," Cassil said.
Here, he is also glad to do his part in "lessening the human suffering for other Missourians."