Indiana Task Force 1 returns after recovering victims from Florida condo collapse

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indiana Task Force 1 is back home after aiding search and rescue efforts in Surfside, Florida, following a condo collapse.

The 17-day deployment is one of the longest for the group.

Structure collapses and hurricanes are two types of deployments that are typical for Task Force 1, but this trip to Florida was the first time that crews had to deal with both disasters at the same time. It made their mission to recover missing people from the rubble that much more challenging.

Indiana Task Force 1 headed into its mission feeling confident and prepared when group members packed the buses on June 30.

“But getting there and seeing stuff in person it changes things,” Rescue Squad Officer Kevin Jones said. “It is hard to imagine what it is going to look like when you get there. Then you see it and it is just impressive to see something of that magnitude.”

Crews were able to complete a task that was expected to take two months in three weeks with proper man power and equipment.

“Seeing the pictures, we knew kind of what we were getting into but everybody was still in the rescue mindset,” Jones said.

“It was like a needle in a haystack but the coordinated efforts, the command and control, working with the Israelis, and then everybody that was there before us, they had plans in place,” Jones added.

The team from Israel was able to offer intelligence and technology that allowed crews to locate and dig within a few feet of where victims were buried under the rubble. But the conditions were working against them day after day.

“More of a physical and mental status is what I worried about because conditions were very difficult with the structure being in the condition that it was: the weather, high 90s, 90% humidity, storms popping up,” Task Force Leader Jay Settergren said.

Once the remainder of the building came down, Settergren says crews were able to work more efficiently.

“Once that came down, we were able to do a lot more of the area as far as the search and recovery went and it was huge for us because that was in the back of my mind, is if that came down while we were working, it was not going to be good,” he said.

With millions of pounds of debris to sift through, heavy machinery saved time as they dug between floors where victims were buried.

“The tools that were the most helpful were the large machinery,” Jones said. “Being able to move the large pieces of concrete because those were just a tedious task. If we had to do that by hand we would probably still be down there.”

By the time Indiana Task Force 1 arrived, one week after the collapse, there were no survivors. However, they were able to find victims and give families closure.

“It definitely was a huge mental toll and physical toll,” Settergren said. “Like I said, you are just in the heat and all the other conditions and then you add on to it what we were doing. It was very difficult and I worried about our people the whole time we were there.”

The 80 people who were on the mission from Indiana Task Force 1 are on a mandatory resting period and the first shift will go back to work tomorrow.