Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505050095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANN DONAHUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
During a call for silence in the rubble of the Oklahoma City federal building, rescue worker Michael Gordon Brown strained to hear the cries of survivors.
All he heard was the grinding of steel and the movement of concrete as the remains of the nine-story building threatened to collapse on top of him.
A Blacksburg native, Brown went to Oklahoma City as a part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency rescue squad from Virginia Beach.
Brown, 37, attended Virginia Tech and trained with the Blacksburg Fire Rescue Squad. He has taught rescue technique classes to the Roanoke Valley Technical Rescue Squad.
His squad was the third from FEMA to reach the scene of the bombing. "We arrived 30 hours after the blast," Brown said.
He said he soon ran out of ways to describe the magnitude of the destruction. "We just got numb," he said. "We didn't need to say the words anymore."
Brown sifted through the debris for survivors with 55 other rescuers from his team. They worked 36 hours straight when they first arrived in Oklahoma City.
After some down time, the team members continued to work 12 to 14 hours a day for the next five days.
Brown's team worked on the upper floors and in the basement of the building during the first three days of the rescue effort. The squad removed 25 bodies, mostly adults; it did not find a single survivor.
Brown's team worked the night shift, which became more harrowing as the week wore on. Brown said the driving rain and chilling wind gusts strained the workers' concentration.
Rainwater was absorbed by the building, making it heavier and even more unstable. Brown described seeing a chunk of concrete the size of a refrigerator, suspended only by a metal rod, swaying above him in the wind.
"We're just normal Joes," Brown said of the rescuers in his squad. "We're just local firefighters." Brown is a captain with the Virginia Beach Fire Department.
Brown praised the fortitude of his squad members during the rescue. He said his team's attitude remained positive the whole time, and there were no complaints, crying or whining.
"You drew your strength working with your team," Brown said.
Brown's rescue squad also was activated during Hurricane Hugo and the collapse of the Wal-Mart in Petersburg during a tornado, but he said nothing comes close to what he saw in Oklahoma City.
"We had worked ourselves to a psychological and physical exhaustion," Brown said. "As tired as we were, it's nice to be home."
Brown's mother, Margaret, still lives in Blacksburg. She said the family has strived to be a comfort to her son, who is married and has three children.
"When I watched that on TV and saw that building could crumble ... they put their lives on the line just to help," she said.
Michael Brown's team returned to Virginia Beach on April 26, and a ceremony was held for the rescuers. During the service, Brown said he was momentarily annoyed by the sounds of crying children in the audience.
He said he then imagined the suffering of all the parents in Oklahoma City whose children still are buried under the rubble.
"Crying ... it's the most pretty sound in the world," he said.
by CNB