End of shift the hardest part of the day for many mudslide rescuers
Mar 31, 2014, 7:55 AM | Updated: 8:08 am
Four more bodies were pulled from the debris field near Oso on Sunday. They have not been included in the death toll, which stands at 21. The number of missing is 30.
But for many rescuers, the hardest part of walking the debris field comes at the end of their shift. They have to walk by piles of family keepsakes and every day household items.
The twisted children’s toys, the golf clubs and jars of food are a constant reminder of what has been lost in this mudslide.
Seeing those items is also what drives many searchers. If those items can be found, so can the missing.
Bellevue Fire’s Richard Burke took over command of the west side of the slide on Sunday. It was his first look at the debris field in person.
“I don’t even know how to explain it. I don’t know if there are words to explain it. You have to see it for yourself to understand that at some points it’s 70 to 80 feet deep from where it used to be. That’s just an incredible amount of material,” Burke said. “We’re going to go through all of it for these families.”
Burke said they are not going to give up on the families who lost loved ones in this disaster. They are going to keep digging.
“It’s beyond explanation but this is the wonderful thing about community: they come together at these dark times and they are committed to each other,” said Burke. “That’s what we have now, memories and commitment to each other. We’re going to continue to work.”
Conditions in the debris field are expected to improve Monday with the drier weather.
There is now an access road between both sides of the slide that has greatly improved the efficiency of the search. More heavy equipment is working the debris field now.
Search and rescue teams are also getting relieved. So there are fresh legs in the search, and that includes the four-legged kind.
But Burke said he won’t compromise on safety.
“Our big concern is that everyone goes home at the end of the day. We’ve had enough loss. We’ve had an incredible amount of loss,” he said. “We serve no one by getting somebody else injured. Sometimes it’s that perspective of being able to stand back and watch these folks, and make sure that they’re safe.”
There are still large sections of the slide area that have not yet been searched. The mud is still too unstable in those areas.
