L.A. Rescuers Frustrated

A feeling of frustration has hung over Los Angeles urban search and rescue team members for the last week as they watched televised images of the physical and human toll in Turkey.

The 7.4 earthquake is precisely what both Los Angeles County and city fire department teams have been trained to deal with. But when it comes to international disasters, neither team has the opportunity to display its skills because they are not included in a contract with the federal government.

“It’s like we have a tool in our pocket and we know it could be used to help people . . . but we’re not called upon to use the tool,” said Capt. Larry Collins of the Los Angeles County Urban Search and Rescue Team.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees the nation’s office of foreign disaster assistance, has contracts only with two East Coast teams: Fairfax, Va., and Miami-Metro Dade County, Fla.

Last month, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills) inserted language into the foreign operations appropriations bill (HR 2415) urging the Agency for International Development to also work with two West Coast urban search and rescue teams.

“To better respond to disasters in Asia and the Pacific Rim, the committee encourages [Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance] to contract with two [domestic search and rescue] teams on the West Coast,” said the House bill, which was passed by the House earlier this month.

The bill does not specify which teams would be chosen.

Use of West Coast teams would reduce the time required to respond to some disasters by six hours, according to the legislation.

“It made sense to Congressman Berman that in the event of a disaster, we have superbly trained teams on the West Coast that express their eagerness to help in the event of foreign disasters,” said Tom Waldman, press secretary for Berman. “It made sense to us both in terms of their skill and their proximity to certain disasters in Asia and Central and South America that we pursue this in Washington. This could save lives.”

In that regard, Waldman cited disasters such as last year’s Hurricane Mitch in Central America and the 1995 earthquake in Japan.

The teams in Los Angeles understand the importance of quick response because they have been training for such disasters for years.

Leo Ibarra, a firefighter specialist assigned to the county’s urban search and rescue team, started training even before the county Fire Department formed a team in 1990. Ibarra and a group of others, whom he referred to as “the dirty dozen,” got together in the late 1980s because they could see a need for the skills of an urban search and rescue team, he said.

“As we see more media attention focused on these disasters abroad, it’s kind of like biting at the bit, so to speak,” said Ibarra. “You’re kind of gritting your teeth [saying] we should be there. But we’re here, watching it with everybody else.”

Ibarra’s colleague, Brian Lefave, expressed similar disappointment.

“We see the teams that have been over there or are still over there, and we have trained just as much and just as hard as they have,” he said. “[One of our] main functions is how to perform after a major earthquake hits.”

Both Ibarra and Lefave are members of the FEMA Taskforce, the national urban search and rescue team. They and other county firefighters on the FEMA team had a chance to use their skills in various national disasters, including the Oklahoma City bombing and the Northridge earthquake.

Members of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s urban search and rescue team are also eager to participate in rescue operations abroad. The unit was formed in 1993 but has not been deployed outside of Los Angeles.

“Our team would love to go over to Turkey to do work,” said Capt. Scott Frazier of the L.A. Fire Department. With $1.7 million in equipment, the 62-member team is largely self-sufficient, except for transportation to and from an incident. But without a contract and financial support from the federal government, neither it nor the county team can go on its own.

Being sent to an international disaster would have long-term benefits for Los Angeles in addition to providing humanitarian assistance, said Collins.

“We come back with invaluable experience and information about what [search and rescue technique] actually works and what doesn’t work in actual disaster scenarios,” Collins said. “And those lessons learned are applied here to L.A. County for our preparedness for earthquakes.”

Although that opportunity is not yet available, many hope that it soon will be.

“We’re ready to go. We have some of the best trained individuals here at the county,” Ibarra said. “We wait patiently in hopes that we will get our turn.”