I was there last Saturday and Sunday - helping with recovery.
Here's my after action report- I wrote it to remind myself of how uncomplicated my life is.
Monday- March 31st, 2014
Portland
My K9 Handler partner our HRD K9 and I departed Portland at 1 AM on Saturday.
We arrived on scene on the East side of the slide near Darrington at 0600 and proceeded to sign in and wait to be briefed.
In these situations, logistics and coordination of assets is usually a complicated and chaotic process- this was only made worse by the fact that the East-side command and West-side commands were basically running two searches.
We waited for orders and eventually were re-deployed to the West-side command. We arrived there at about Noon and were in the field within 45 minutes.
As we were getting ready, the order came down for us to leave all of our extra gear in our cars. Command had evidence that dysentery had broken out in the area- as a result, we would not be able to eat or drink in the debris field. We would also need to undergo decontamination as we exited.
We deployed with our K9 - attached to a crew of Everett firefighters. Immediately ahead of us was another entire crew with another HRD K9. The dog teams would work to confirm each other’s finds.
Our mission was to search for human remains. This is a mission we have trained for and are very familiar with- yet, despite our experience, we were not prepared for what we went into in Oso. Our K9 is a certified Human Remains Detection (HRD) dog. He and his handler have been on numerous wilderness and urban searches in the Pacific Northwest and have had many successful finds. In HRD operations the word success is has a very specific, conditional meaning. Success does mean that we are able to initiate the first step in a long process to bring closure to the families of the victims or possible successful prosecution in a criminal case.
Our personal gear consisted of neoprene, boot-foot waders, base layers, a waterproof jacket, protective gloves over surgical gloves, eye protection, a hat and a helmet. In my jacket pockets I carried a disposable vial of eye-wash wrapped in duct tape- both could be used if the dog were injured. I also carried a knife, a waterproof notepad and a pen. Teams were forbidden from taking pictures in the field.
We marched in single file to the debris field we passed the command post, vehicles, medical tent, earth moving equipment. At one end of this command and control area we came across a personal-effects crew decontaminating an American flag. No one said a word.
The debris field is approximately one square mile in size. The debris is anywhere form 1-5 feet deep up to 75 feet deep- on average, its 20-25 feet deep. The debris itself is a mix of mud, sand, trees and branches, parts of homes and cars and the victims. The slide event took homes off of their foundations and trees off of their roots. It looked like everything had been put through a blender. It was the closest thing I can imagine to hell on earth.
Local response and FEMA crews had managed to enter the debris field with excavators and were gathering the superficial debris into piles. It was our job to search these piles and report any finds.
The debris field itself is mostly mud and sand. Plywood planks had been laid on the mud to keep us from sinking. If you stepped off the plank, you could stand or sink to your thighs in the muck. Thankfully, the dogs had less of a problem staying on top of the mud. Because of the constant rain and the blockage of the Stillaguamish, pools of contaminated water were forming everywhere. Sometimes we could walk over these on planks or logs. Other times we, and the dog had to walk through them.
Everywhere we looked in the debris field we could spot traces of the lives that were lost. Sticks of butter, still in the wrapper. Jars of peanut butter, unopened. A Barbie doll, next to a baseball card collection. Random clothing and pairs of shoes. A Nike track spike. A garage door. An Easybake oven. A crushed propane tank. Half of a car.
HRD dogs, in general, have two types of alerts- a soft alert and a hard alert. They will react with a soft alert when they detect the nearby presence of human remains. They usually circle, sniff and pace in a small area. If they actually make contact with human remains they will sit. The search coordinators brought three other dogs into our area, they also detected traces of human remains.
In three hours of searching an area less than two acres we had two soft hits.
After we left the immediate area, excavators were brought in to the site and digging commenced.
At about 4PM we exited the debris field. There was a clear path for us to follow that kept us (the. contaminated) apart from the decontaminated folks. We walked up to a tent surrounded by loud water pumps and tanker trucks. All of us , including our K9s, had to be decontaminated by a National Guard decon crew. Decon is a multi-stage process. First, we were treated to a high-pressure cold water hose to blast off any loose debris, mostly mud. This was followed by warm water sprays, detergent and brushes.
Our K9 has a long coat- he hated decon. After decon we took him straight to our rig to prevent him from becoming more hypothermic. On our way back to our vehicle we passed that same American flag- now hanging from a portable shelter- again we were silent.
The dog was spent, and so were the humans-we were done for the day.
We returned to the site on Sunday and found two more locations that were reconfirmed by other dog teams. One of these was excavated on Monday and a victim was found in a car, buried in ten feet of mud and debris.
On our way back from decon to our vehicles we were approached by a gentleman who had lost two family members. He made a point of thanking us and wanted us to know how important our efforts had been and what it meant to the families.
We had a hard time keeping ourselves together until we were out of view. We had a good cry as we squared away our gear.
We arrived back in Portland Sunday night, exhausted, filthy and sore.
I survived the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in California- I helped search for victims in the debris in Los Gatos. Not since then have I experienced the level of emotion that I felt when I got home on Sunday. Glad to be alive, glad for my family, glad for all of people I call friends, glad for my comfortable life and with a complete reset of the inconveniences in my life that I once called problems.
Pics are from Reuters
