Southwest Florida search and rescue team returns from a week at Surfside

To an echo of cheers on Saturday, firefighter Gregg Abenanti and 35 other team members on Urban Search and Rescue Team Task Force 6 in Southwest Florida left their vehicles after a tough, emotional week.

Abenanti was looking for his wife, Jennifer. When he found her, Jennifer hugged him and explained how much she missed him while he spent the week on a search and rescue mission for those who went missing when the Surfside condo collapsed last week.

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After Jennifer, it was Greg’s 7 year old Great Dane Lacey’s turn to be hugged.

The return of USAR-TF6 to Bonita Springs Fire Department 24, 27701 Bonita Grande Drive, was encouraging to team members who worked 12-hour shifts to find survivors.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Gregory DeWitt, Bonita Springs fire chief and task force leader. “It’s great to be home, but there is still a lot to do. There are still people who need a closure. “

As of Saturday, first responders had rescued 24 people who were killed in the collapse of the Champlain Towers South early that morning on June 24th. More than 120 people remain missing. Rescue workers from across the country and around the world fight to find survivors and bodies in the rubble of the 12-story building.

USAR-TF6 is a cross-agency and interdisciplinary search and rescue unit based in Southwest Florida. The more than 90-strong team consists of civil volunteers, firefighters, paramedics and specialists from over 10 local emergency organizations.

Team members are trained at an expert level in all technical rescue disciplines, which enables them to respond to a wide variety of incidents including structural collapse rescue, confined space rescue, trench rescue, large animal rescue, long-range search, low-level rescue / high angles and quick water rescue.

The team’s previous service was highlighted by its work during Hurricanes Dorian, Irma, Matthew and Charley. It could continue when tropical storm Elsa hits the region at the beginning of next week.

The collapse of a condominium was the first non-disaster the task force worked on. As the third search and rescue team on the site, where around 450 workers continued the mission, Shane Sibert, program manager for USAR-TF6, said the transition was “seamless”.

“At first it was overwhelming, but we got into combat mode and made it our own,” said Sibert. “This team makes my work easier. I couldn’t be more proud of her. “

The USAR Task Force recently attended a training session early last month that has benefited immensely over the past week. During the final week of the demolition of the 47-year-old Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track, the team participated in several search and rescue scenarios in the rubble.

Ready to help:Southwest Florida Search and Rescue Task Force 6 members helping at the Surfside, Florida collapse site

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DeWitt described the difficulty of the site, where six stories of Champlain Towers South are now below the ground. Storms in the area as well as fires that broke out at the site also made search and rescue difficult.

“We just wanted to please the families,” DeWitt said, adding that some family members gave team members the names of loved ones in hopes of locating them.

With team members’ support systems across the state, DeWitt made it a point to have his team call or FaceTime their families in the hour before their 12-hour shift on site each day.

The team’s return came in part due to Elsa’s planned route towards southwest Florida.

It was the return of a fitting hero on Saturday as the convoy of trucks and vans drove into Station 24 when a large American flag hung on ladder trucks for the San Carlos Park and Bonita Springs fire departments. Family members lined the parking lot with signs and balloons.

“We know we are valued,” said DeWitt. “But that only shows it.”

The threat to South Florida from the tropical storm prompted a call for the demolition of the upright part of the building in Champlain Towers South within a few days on Saturday.

“This will protect our search and rescue teams. We don’t know when it might fall, ”said Governor Ron DeSantis at a press conference on Saturday. “With these gusts that would be a real danger.”

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