THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504290091
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
EVEN BEFORE THE Hampton Roads FEMA team landed at the Norfolk Naval Station Wednesday from a five-day deployment in Oklahoma City, it began spending the $300,000 of government money it got for its first assignment.
On the shopping list was a chain saw with diamond-laced teeth, for cutting concrete.
The money was as much a reward for the team's first deployment as it was an additional federal grant to fortify the elite squad's mission to respond to catastrophe within hours, and stay as long as it takes to rescue the human toll.
In Oklahoma City on April 19, the toll began mounting from the worst terrorist attack in United States history. A rental truck packed with an explosive mixture of fertilizer and diesel fuel blasted away an entire face of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The devastating force gouged the cement structure and nine floors collapsed into rubble.
During the five days the local urban search-and-rescue team was there, it and other teams marked more than 80 bodies for removal. Many of the dead were children. The final death toll could approach 200.
The Midwest grieved, as did the nation. But Mayor Meyera Oberndorf said it was fulfilling that this city could do more.
``I wept all last week, and again looking at the front page of the paper this morning,'' the mayor said Wednesday. ``But it is good we can do more than just grieve and weep; it is good we can make a significant contribution to the suffering there.''
The contribution was a grueling inaugural mission for Virginia Task Force 2, working largely with gloved hands in 12-hour shifts to clear the rubble.
It's been two years since the urban search-and-rescue squad was formed. After being bypassed for three previous national disasters, the task force finally did the job members have trained thousands of hours to do.
``Nobody wants to fight a war, nobody wants to fight a fire and nobody wants to deal with a disaster of this magnitude,'' said Fire Chief Jim Kellam while in Oklahoma City. ``But if you don't, your edge is lost.''
Long before the FEMA team formed, area firefighters began sharpening the edge.
From early roots in trench-rescue training, the need surfaced for a new breed of firefighter who could pluck victims from the most precarious - and dangerous - of situations. And from hurricanes and earthquakes that overwhelmed stricken community resources across the country, the need surfaced to make the new breed mobile.
When Virginia Beach matched a $100,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant in 1993 to form such a team, the city became one of only 25 in the country to make the commitment. And when firefighters from Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Newport News, Chesapeake and the Navy devoted thousands of hours for specialized training, the team became one of only eight in the nation qualified to be first deployed when disaster strikes.
The team is designed to be self sufficient for at least 72 hours. Along with powerful concrete-chewing equipment and sensitive listening devices, the team also packs provisions, extra fuel for generators, pet food for the four body-sniffing dogs assigned to the task force and even extra water for showers.
They pack so completely because they are designed to deploy to areas where normal amenities would be scarce.
Frequently in the aftermath of earthquakes and hurricanes, drinking water is contaminated and grocery stores are depleted. When the team packs, it plans for that.
The bombing in Oklahoma City, however, didn't wreck the city's infrastructure. For that reason, the team enjoyed better conditions than it's been trained to accept. And the 56 rescuers with the team never expected the hospitality that gushed from the city's residents.
``This is our home, our back yard,'' said Oklahoma City resident Kim Pfaff, a frequent volunteer at the convention center that housed the Virginia Beach team six days. ``All these wonderful people have come here to help us, so we want to help them.''
Volunteers like Pfaff dished out chow on buffet lines, massaged firefighters' sore shoulders and passed out boots and rain gear to those who needed it.
``If they're willing to leave their families for a week, it's the least we can do to leave ours to help out,'' said Joe Wallace, another convention-center volunteer.
The team returned to their families Wednesday, and, in the next couple of days, will begin returning to their regular assignments.
Until the next disaster calls them.
``I think it went better than I expected, and that doesn't mean I had low expectations,'' Kellam said. ``They were professionals, and they pulled together.'' MEMO: AN EXTRA TWIST
When a private bus company was unable to transport the FEMA team to
Norfolk Naval Air Station in the wee hours of the night, the Virginia
Beach school system responded with buses and drivers/Next page
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
[Color Photo]
HOMETOWN HEROES
Staff photos by PAUL AIKEN
The scene outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma
City was filled with rescue workers and other volunteers.
Duane Krohn, master firefighter from Virginia Beach station No. 10,
walks wearily into the team's living space after a 12-hour shift of
clearing rubble and searching for bodies. During the team's five
days in Oklahoma City, it and other teams marked more than 80 bodies
for removal. Many of the dead were children.
Beach fire department medical specialist Dennis Keane, also pictured
on the color cover, leads the team off the runway at Norfolk Naval
Air Station after the members returned from Oklahoma City.
Dennis Clark, an engineer; James Torrey, a heavy equipment operator;
and Bernie Deneke, another engineer - all attached to the Beach fire
department - examine plans for the federal building in Oklahoma
City.
Margaret Wilson, a nanny from Oklahoma City, was one of many
volunteers at the civic center where area team members stayed. Here,
she looks through a pile of shoes for a pair of boots that a team
member forgot in the rush.
Members of the Virginia Task Force 2 and their search dogs await the
bus that will take them on their next salvage shift at the federal
building in Oklahoma City.
KEYWORDS: OKLAHOMA BOMBING FEDERAL BUILDING RESCUE by CNB