Y2K Planning Credited With Quick Response

At the morning meeting of the Board of Supervisors, Ventura County Undersheriff Craig Husband ticked off the statistics showing the quick response of local government during the first frantic hours after the Alaska Airlines crash.

* More than 100 county sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, search-and-rescue crew members, and deep-sea divers readied for duty within minutes.

* Two sheriff’s helicopters were quickly dispatched to search for survivors.

* An emergency operations center was activated within 15 minutes of the crash and fully operational within an hour.

The prompt response was possible, in part, because of extensive emergency planning that had taken place in anticipation of Y2K-related problems, Husband told supervisors.

And county officials were quick to praise the efforts of local emergency workers.

“It was instant response,” said Supervisor John K. Flynn, who stopped by a command center hastily assembled at Channel Islands Harbor just hours after the accident.

Along with the praise, however, came the grim reality that weeks, and perhaps months, of unpleasant jobs lay ahead. Among them:

* Scouring the ocean waters for human remains and airplane debris.

* Grim news conferences at the Port Hueneme naval base as details of the investigation are revealed.

* The arrival at local hotels of the grieving families of the victims.

In the days ahead, the immediate job of local government will be identifying human remains. That job will fall to Ventura County Medical Examiner Ronald O’Halloran and his staff of five deputy examiners.

Their office will attempt to identify remains once they are transferred to the county morgue from refrigerated units at the Port Hueneme Seabee base, officials said. The local office is expected to receive assistance from medical examiners in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties.

“It’s daunting and it’s grim,” said James Baroni, a senior deputy medical examiner. “But we realize it needs to be done. Everybody is putting forth extra effort to get this done with our small staff.”

More than 300 Coast Guard and 800 Navy personnel scoured the Pacific looking for survivors. Aided by sunny weather, low winds and high visibility, they completed 51 different search patterns in a 36-square-mile area.

But nearly 24 hours after the plane plunged into the ocean, officials had only recovered four bodies, including one infant.

The boat traffic into Port Hueneme remained steady throughout the day. Small fishing boats, and Navy and Coast Guard vessels, pulled up to Wharf 3, where the debris was unloaded and transferred to a large warehouse at the Navy base.

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Robertson thanked local fishermen and merchants for their help in the rescue effort.

“This is truly a team effort,” he said. “The seafaring community has really come together.”

The decision to end rescue efforts, which could come this morning, will be based on several factors, including ocean temperature, sea conditions and length of time that victims would be in the water.

“When it becomes clear that there is no chance for survivors, we will shift our focus to recovery,” Coast Guard Cmdr. Michael Sullivan said.

Despite the unsuccessful efforts, Coast Guard morale remained high.

“We continue to be enthused, motivated and hopeful that we’ll be successful,” Robertson said.

For the fishermen and boat operators who have worked the waters off Ventura County for years, it was hard to fathom that a jetliner could--and did--fall from the sky into their quiet fishing grounds.

“Not much disaster has struck this place,” said 30-year-old boat captain Eric Hermann, who began trolling for swordfish near the Channel Islands as a boy.

With the exception of a few urchin divers who have drowned or been attacked by sharks in recent years, the biggest problems facing the local marine community have been economic.

Meanwhile, exhausted volunteers who spent the previous night scouring the ocean waters in vain for survivors headed home Tuesday.

Ed Morlan and Andy Ecsedy pulled up wreckage for 14 hours after a friend from Ventura County Search and Rescue called shortly after the crash and asked for their help.

Ocean swells pelted their 25-foot leisure boat, the Wannabe, violently throughout the night, prompting both recreational divers to vomit periodically. Still, they kept going until Tuesday afternoon, gathering an estimated 400 pounds of debris.

They pulled in seats, trays, insulation, shoes, a glove--and a baby’s bottle. They radioed the Coast Guard for help whenever they spotted human remains.

“The bottle hit me hard,” said Morlan, the father of a 4-month-old. “I just had to think of my own daughter.”

As they prepared to go home, Ecsedy, a Thousand Oaks computer engineer, and Morlan, a Simi Valley contractor, said that so much death on the water will haunt them for some time to come.

“Empty,” Ecsedy said. “That’s how I feel right now. But I’m just kind of looking at it like this is helping someone out there. So I just had to do it.”

Tuesday also drew hundreds of Ventura County residents to coastal areas, where they had a chance to publicly grieve or just gawk. Motorists stopped along turnouts on California 1 south of the Point Mugu naval base to lay flowers and light candles at makeshift memorials.

Others were hoping to get a better look at the search efforts or spot debris that may have washed ashore.

At Point Mugu State Park Wildlife Refuge, adjacent to the Navy base, burning memorial candles and roses adorned an information post.

There to pay his respects to the crash victims was Oxnard resident Jack Hershey, 63.

Hershey was particularly shaken because his niece, Vicki Hershey, an Alaska Airlines flight attendant, had just worked a Puerto Vallarta-to-Seattle flight Sunday.

“I checked with them and they’re OK,” he said. “But that’s scary.”

Shannon Rivers, a Pima Indian from Arizona, was en route from Northern California when he heard about the crash. He diverted to a coastal route, stopping to recite a Native American prayer and burn sage in honor of the crash victims.

At Mugu Rock, Ventura resident George Van Hemert was scanning the shoreline with high-powered binoculars. He said he came to get a better look at the search efforts but also found himself looking for any debris from the crash.

“I don’t expect something to come ashore yet, but maybe because of the force of the impact and wind, something will come over and I would want the police to know,” he said.

There were at least five California Highway Patrol cruisers and numerous search-and-rescue units patrolling the area. CHP officers were attempting to keep the curious away from any possible debris.

County Supervisor Judy Mikels also made a public appeal to stay away from any evidence that comes ashore.

“Don’t be curious about things washing up on shore and pick them up,” she said during the supervisors’ morning meeting. “Don’t be intrusive on the families who will be arriving. And, most importantly, stay out of the way. It is important to the families to get this resolved quickly.”

Times staff writers Tina Dirmann, Anna Gorman and Tracy Wilson, and Times Community News reporter Katie Cooper contributed to this story.

* PILOTS’ STRUGGLE

The Alaska Airlines pilots struggled with mechanical problems for at least six minutes before the crash. A1

* LIVES LOST

The deaths of those on board Flight 261 have left a trail of grieving families from Mexico to Alaska. A1

* ROUTINE START

Preparations for flight from Puerto Vallarta went like clockwork. A23

* JOINING FORCES

A flotilla of Ventura County boaters joined the search in choppy seas. A23

* MORE STORIES: A17, A18, A19, B3