Mexico City Quake Scene: County Firefighters Help Out, Learn

Six firefighters from the Orange County Fire Department station in Seal Beach received some first-hand experience on earthquake preparedness when they spent a week in Mexico City after it had been struck by two killer earthquakes last month.

Capt. Steven Shomber, second in command of the crew that went to Mexico, described the destruction he encountered as “eerie” and “like the Twilight Zone.”

“We went down there . . . and came back better prepared for something that might happen here.”

The Orange County firefighters, who left Sept. 27 and returned Oct. 4, joined rescue teams from throughout the world who converged on the Mexican capital after the quakes, which registered 8.3 and 8.1 on the Richter scale. The county Board of Supervisors will issue a proclamation today commending the six firefighters for their actions. The other members of the Orange County group were Battalion Chief Charles A. Nicola, engineers Bob Castillo, Joe Stillwell and Rich Finnerty, and firefighter Bob Dowis.

The team was part of a statewide effort organized by the state Office of Emergency Services. Shomber said firefighter teams from Orange and Los Angeles counties left with about $76,000 worth of power saws, digger bars and other rescue equipment. The equipment was left with Mexico City’s Fire Department for other rescue operations.

When the teams reached Mexico City, they used trucks supplied by the American Embassy to carry their equipment while searching for people trapped in the rubble.

Shomber said his group worked on the newer buildings, such as the 14-story Juarez Hospital, in which the floors had collapsed together, leaving 2-to-5-foot wide spaces, called “void spaces.” The firefighters would cut through the concrete and steel supports of the floors and creep into the void spaces, looking for survivors. After they searched the floor, he said they would continue into the next.

“You didn’t know what to expect. . . . I wonder how anyone can live through this kind of destruction,” Shomber said.

“We’ve been taught that we can’t expect someone to live five to six days after, and then here we have people being pulled out seven to eight days after.”

As he went between the floors of fallen buildings, Shomber said: “Things felt really hollow” and he felt numb.

Shomber said he and the other Seal Beach firefighters were selected because they had received special training in earthquake preparedness and also in the operation of a $168,000 prototype rescue vehicle. That vehicle is equipped to handle rescues in earthquakes or other natural disasters.

Shomber said the group could have used the truck in Mexico City, but there were logistical problems in getting it there.

Shomber said the experience taught the crew how to react during an earthquake.

“You can read up on it all you want, but when you actually get into a situation, (you get) the best experience you can have.”