This time disaster struck home.
Rescuers are urgently searching for scores of souls that were buried under the Champlain Towers condominium building’s 12-story collapsed wing. On Tuesday morning, five days after the collapse, there were 11 deaths and 150 unaccounted for.
“It’s personal,” stated Dave Downey (ex-Fire Chief in Miami-Dade County), a veteran of the department for 37 years who retired two decades ago and joined the search.
He said, “I would rather be helping than asking for help,” from a command vehicle near the piles of concrete and twisted steel.
To help, crews from all over Florida, Mexico and Israel have flocked to Surfside. Over 400 rescue workers are on the scene and rotate in and out of the rubble approximately every 45 minutes, during 12-hour shifts. Six to seven rescue teams, each with six members, can be seen trampling over the debris mountain or tunneling into it at any one time.
The search for survivors went on amid frantic pleas from loved ones for rescuers to move more quickly. The crews were not hindered by the intermittent downpours. A smoky fire that was burning deep in the ruins did not stop them. The heat of Florida has also been a problem.
Alan Cominsky, the current chief fire officer, became emotional when he spoke about the first hours following emergency crews arrived on the scene at an alarming hour early Thursday.
“Wow, wow. He spoke of the rescue efforts, the hardships we faced, and how we got through those first hours at 1:30 AM in this environment. “I’m trying to stress the enormity of what we are seeing, and how difficult it is for us to see. We keep moving forward.”
Joseph A. Barbera was a George Washington University expert on search and rescue. He met a team from Miami-Dade while advising rescuers in Manila in 1990.
Barbera said that they have a strong reputation and pointed out that the Miami-Dade search & rescue task force was established before many other international teams. “I am very confident that they’ll continue to do an excellent job.”
They have had lots of practice.
