Haiti 'most intense' for Virginia rescuers

By CATHY DYSON

Fairfax County's urban search and rescue team has responded to 11 earthquakes on five continents and to other natural disasters from the Gulf Coast to the Indian Ocean since it formed 24 years ago.

But the widespread devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti will stand out in the minds of the team's members for many reasons.

"By far, this was our most intense mission and our most rewarding mission in the number of rescues," said Ed Brinkley, a Spotsylvania County resident and field battalion chief in Fairfax County.

Brinkley is one of about 30 people from the Fredericksburg region who are part of the rescue team, called Virginia Task Force 1.

The elite unit has 180 members, and most belong to the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.

The unit was one of six American rescue groups sent to Haiti, and one of the first put into action by President Obama after the magnitude 7 quake hit the Haitian capital.

Fairfax sent 114 people on the mission. About 20 of them came from the Fredericksburg area, said Mark Stone, who lives in Spotsylvania.

Rescuers were atop a pile of rubble 23 hours after the earthquake hit, Brinkley said. The quick response was part of the reason the group was able to pull 16 survivors from the remains of flattened buildings.

Before Haiti, the team didn't "have 16 combined rescues in the last 20 years," Stone said.

Rex Strickland of Louisa County was among those who saved five Haitian students from the Port-au-Prince university.

Some parts of the rescue took almost 30 hours. The students were trapped toward the center of the building, near a spiral staircase, and under tons of debris.

When buildings collapsed, floors tended to "pancake" on top of each other, Strickland said. People survived when voids--or small pockets of air--were created.

Even though the students lived through the initial crush, they were trapped. Most couldn't move their heads more than an inch or two in any direction, Strickland said.

Each rescue team carried equipment ranging from high-tech listening devices to jackhammers and saws. At times, the tool that worked the best was old-fashioned hard labor.

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TEAM: Virginia Task Force 1, made up mostly of members of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department. SIZE: 180 members, with about 30 from the Fredericksburg area. A deployed team usually has 72 members, but Fairfax sent a regular team first and a smaller one later, for a total of 114 people. MISSION: To rescue survivors. Team is equipped for any natural disaster but is specially trained to remove people from concrete rubble after earthquakes. ACTIVATED: In the United States by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and internationally by USAID, the United States Agency for International Development. FUNDING: The federal government pays for all equipment and manpower. When fellow workers fill in for deployed team members, their salaries are paid by the government, too, said Ed Brinkley, a Spotsylvania County resident and Fairfax County battalion chief. THE APPROACH: Team members take everything they need with them to sustain themselves for two weeks. That includes food, shelter, showers and water, all the power equipment and the trucks to carry it all. The only thing the team can't pack is the fuel for their vehicles and power tools. BEST QUOTE: "It's a machine," Brinkley said. "But it's sometimes frustrating for us because it's been said that firefighters deal with seconds and minutes, and the government deals with hours, days and months."

Rescuers are the ones who get all the press, but every team member plays a valuable role, said Mark Stone of Spotsylvania. People who handle logistics have to get everything packed, loaded and set up on-site. They handle about 65,000 pounds of equipment and medical supplies.

Communications have to be established and local maps gathered--or, as was the case in Haiti, made by team members with tourist maps, photos and street grids.

Members take reports from local people about where survivors might be, and others assess the scene before rescuers arrive. Doctors are on-hand to help those rescued, as well as the rescuers, and structural engineers determine if buildings are sturdy enough to enter.

Team members who aren't deployed pull shifts back home for fellow workers and check on their families. They've fixed everything from car problems to busted water pipes for deployed team members, Stone said.

Date published: 2/7/2010

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