THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200830
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY SUSAN W. SMITH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 120 lines
As Hurricane Fran prepared to batter the coast of the Carolinas, the 43rd Virginia Volunteer Search and Rescue Unit signaled a standby alert and made plans to follow in the wake of the storm.
Attached to the Chesapeake Sheriff's Department, the all-volunteer unit has disaster-relief experience. Two weeks after Hurricane Andrew devastated South Florida, several teams from the unit went to Florida to help with the cleanup operations. This time the group wanted to offer more immediate assistance. They wanted to be on site within hours after Fran passed through.
About 40 local citizens make up the unit, also known as the Carlos Hathcock Ranger Company in honor of Carlos Hathcock, a U.S. Marine hero who served in the Vietnam War. Hathcock now lives in Virginia Beach.
The Rangers, as the volunteers call themselves, were formerly a unit of the U.S. Air Force auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol. In 1994, the company joined the Chesapeake Sheriff's Department to provide help on more of a local level, said Col. J.E. Saunders, the company commander and a captain with the Chesapeake Police Department.
As part of the sheriff's office, the company assists with search, rescue and disaster relief. Members are trained in lifesaving care, survivor transport, boat operations and communications. The Rangers have no law enforcement authority.
Chesapeake has the only sheriff's department on the East Coast with such a highly trained search and rescue team to call on for immediate aid, Sheriff John R. Newhart said.
On Sept. 5, as Fran threatened Wilmington, N.C., the unit met to make travel plans. The Chesapeake Sheriff's Department and Chesapeake General Hospital funded the mission, and a team of 12 volunteered for the trip.
Kenneth M. Harris, 32, an employee of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and a Ranger for nine years, was one of the first to sign on to make the trip.
``They needed help, so I went,'' Harris said. ``If we needed help, I would hope that others would be here as quickly.''
Antonio L. Lacaze, 41, a Ranger for 14 months, took leave time from his job with Virginia Beach Public Schools to join the mission.
``It could easily be us sitting here with no water, no lights and even no homes,'' Lacaze said. ``People have to pull together.''
Hours after Fran swept through North Carolina, Saunders and the team headed down Interstate 95 to the storm site.
``We never know what to expect when we are called out,'' Saunders said. ``It could be body search, debris removal, crowd control or even filling sand bags. We do whatever local law enforcement or the emergency operations director assigns us.''
Only 20 miles across the state line, they witnessed the first signs of the storm. Scattered trees were down and there were areas without electricity. At a rest stop near Rocky Mount, N.C., a car was cut in half by a fallen tree, Harris said.
As the team got closer to the North Carolina coast, roads were partially flooded and pine trees were in splinters. As they drove into Wilmington, there was no electricity anywhere. Phone lines and trees had been toppled.
The police were contacted by cellular phone to let them know some help had arrived. The unit was sent to an elementary school to check in and to receive instructions for Saturday's work.
Saunders said the emergency management supervisor was impressed with the team's organization, discipline and equipment. They had their own cots, water, food supply and tools to go right to work.
Friday night, it was too hot and too crowded to sleep inside the school, so the men spread their bedrolls outside on the ground and waited until morning to begin their work.
The unit cleared roads and cut trees all day on Saturday. In most areas, power crews could not work until fallen trees were removed from the sagging power lines, and most roads were blocked so that even emergency vehicles or work crews could not pass.
``Huge, 100-year-old trees were lifted out of the ground by their roots,'' Saunders said. ``You could not look anywhere and not see some type of damage.''
``You are never prepared to see so much destruction,'' said Richard Ayala, 41, who works at the Naval Aviation Depot and has served as a Ranger for five years.
You see the pictures on the evening news or read about it in the paper, but it is not the same as wandering down the streets where roofs are missing and homes are flooded, Ayala said.
The workers stopped only to replace the worn saw bars and to oil the power tools as they cleared and cut more than 80 trees. At the end of the day, the Rangers were headed back to camp when they passed a cemetery where trees, limbs and debris covered the tombstones and graves.
Once again, they pulled out the generator and chain saws and went to work. Several hours into the job, an elderly caretaker showed up and tearfully thanked them. He told the group it would have taken him weeks to get the cemetery cleared.
The disaster brought out the best in people. A hotel, still under construction, opened its doors to work teams and rescue crews. The Salvation Army, the Red Cross and churches, schools and businesses provided meals, dry clothing, showers and rest areas.
The storm also caused an unexpected problem for one of the volunteers. The team had planned to work until Monday night before returning home. But one of the men received a message from his Chesapeake employer who demanded his return to work on Monday. Wishing they could have stayed a few more days, the group packed up and came back home late Sunday night.
As the Chesapeake crew left Wilmington, other teams were arriving from Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and other states to help with the cleanup.
``The people along the coast took the storm warnings very seriously,'' Saunders said. ``The storm precautions and evacuations helped prevent a higher death toll. I hope when it is Hampton Roads' turn, we will be as wise.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
ON THE TEAM
Members of the 43rd Virginia Volunteer Search and Rescue Unit, an
auxiliary to the Chesapeake Sheriff's Department, who traveled to
Wilmington, N.C., to help with the cleanup from Hurricane Fran:
Col. Jarvis E. Saunders
1st Lt. Benjamin M. Williams II
Maj. George B. Bobb
2nd Lt. Kenneth M. Harris
Cpl. Scott R. Huss
Sgt. Antonio L. Lacaze
Sgt. Richard Ayala
Pvt. 2 Michael L. Martin
Warrant Officer 1 Brian H. Kaneta
1st Sgt. Eric E. Sommers
Ranger J.J. Wizieck
Sgt. 1st Class Bobby I. Jones by CNB