Why search and rescue mission after Florida tower collapse is complex
- Rescue teams pick through rubble without detecting signs of life
- Death toll has climbed to nine, with 152 people unaccounted for
The collapse of a high-rise residential complex in Florida presented Miami-Dade Fire Rescue with search and rescue difficulties as multilayered as the rubble that used to be 12 floors of flats and a lobby.
“This is the most complex situation we’ve ever encountered,” MDFR Assistant Fire Chief Ray Jadallah told family, friends and loved ones of victims on Saturday.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has an international accreditation that few US fire departments possess. Their rescuers get sent to disasters elsewhere. But the department now faces a unique mix of issues that vary from many other calamities.
“Unlike other buildings, where we could get machinery on all four sides of the building, with this structure, we have soft sand on one end,” Jadallah said. “We have a building on another end. We have another building on another end. We have a building that’s still standing that’s 12 storeys high. We’re very limited in number of resources.”
