Return from the ruins

They said goodbye to wives and girlfriends. They hugged children and, in some cases, grandchildren extra tight. Then they headed from their respective homes in Philadelphia to Harrisburg, where they boarded a plane Aug. 31 for what many would call hell right about now – the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Gulf coast.

"They" are 16 members of the Philadelphia Fire Department’s Special Operations Command Unit, which is part of the Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1. One of the task force’s four leaders is Philadelphia Fire Department Deputy Chief Joseph Mack, who also heads the fire department’s Special Operations Command Unit. Mack remained behind, but his task force was headquartered in Biloxi, Miss., working there and in nearby Gulfport to provide what relief they could in the disaster-stricken area.

The crew returned to Harrisburg last night. Urban Search and Rescue teams from California replaced them as part of a "rotation" process, said Mack. Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers is hosting a welcoming reception for his team at the Fire Academy today.

With most of the focus on New Orleans, La., places such as Mississippi have not garnered as much attention in what government officials are calling the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Sept. 2, the network news showed grievous images of starving Biloxi children rooting through trashcans for scraps of food.As of yesterday, the death toll in Mississippi was close to 170 and climbing, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Many of the 16 firefighters sent to the area are part of the fire department’s Rescue One, a heavy rescue unit at Fourth Street and Girard Avenue that falls under the previously mentioned Special Operations Command Unit. One of the 16, Tom Fry of the 2100 block of South Howard Street, has been assigned to Rescue One for the last decade. A 17-year fire department veteran, Fry began his career at Engine 24, 20th and Federal streets, and also worked a few years at Ladder 11, 12th and Reed streets.

Fry, who was born and raised at Second and Sigel streets, and wife Christine have two daughters, one in high school, the other in college.

"I’m incredibly proud of him. I was very scared for him and all those people down there. It was horrible, but that’s what he was trained to do," his wife said.

Working 12-hour shifts, the firefighters were charged with locating bodies – dead or alive – by going into collapsed houses, high-rises and other structures, Ayers said.

"They will be doing the searches, going in crawl spaces, looking for or removing any bodies, marking bodies that cannot be moved. It’s a very arduous task," the commissioner said while the team was en route to the Gulf. Two days after the task force was in Mississippi, Mack said his men seemed to be holding up "pretty well."

"I think they are having a positive effect on the situation. It’s just that the situation is so massive and, because of that, people are moving a little slower than the public would anticipate. It just takes time," said Mack earlier this week.

Lts. Fred Endrikat and Mike Whalen of the Special Operations Command Unit were dispatched one day before the rest of their crew and are still in the Gulf. The two are part of Incident Support Team 1, which is coordinating the arrival of task forces from around the country to Biloxi . Endrikat is the task-force leader for the national Urban Search and Rescue Network. The 28 or so nationwide Urban Search and Rescue teams work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Ayers. Seven of the 28 task forces are working in the Biloxi and Gulfport areas and report to an Incident Support Team stationed there.

HURRICANE KATRINA IS not the first catastrophe where members of the Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 1 have responded.

Founded in 1990, the task force is composed of 80 members from the Philadelphia and Harrisburg fire departments, Philadelphia Housing Authority’s Emergency Services Unit and Baltimore County. The task force was federalized in the mid-1990s.

Members bring to the table different skills needed for search and rescue, said Mack. Among them are those trained in technical search, dog handlers and communications specialists.

"It’s a very critical mission. It’s intense," said Ayers of the work in the Gulf. "These teams that go in are qualified, they are ready, they are trained to do the job. They go out, they make a difference in the roles that they play."

All Special Operations Command Unit members undergo extensive rescue training, which includes hazardous materials at the Fire Academy, where the unit is based.

The Special Operations Command Unit was activated during the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center with members deployed to Ground Zero. They also responded during Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

"They have been through it all," said Ayers.

FEMA mandates downtime and time off from work, as well as a critical stress debriefing session, for all disaster-relief workers. The fire department will provide those services to the returned 16.

The commissioner said he is proud Philly firefighters could play a part in helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina. But, at the end of the day, it’s about dedication and service that knows no state boundary, he said.

"I am extremely proud of the special assistance our members were able to provide to the citizens suffering the effects of Hurricane Katrina," said Ayers. "The level of training and experience of our firefighters undoubtedly augmented rescue operations in the affected areas."