L.A. Rescue Crew Gets Hero’s Welcome

An elite Los Angeles Fire Department search and rescue team returned from New York City to a hero’s welcome Friday, heartened by their homecoming but unable to escape the scenes they witnessed or the collective sense of grief for the thousands of dead.

Among the firefighters was Thomas Kitahata, 38, an expert in searching tunnels and “void spaces,” which in the rubble of the World Trade Center towers amounted to penetrating 30 to 40 feet deep into crevasses of crushed concrete and mangled steel.

“It feels great to be back,” said Kitahata, surrounded by his wife and two small children at Los Angeles Fire Station 88 in Sherman Oaks. “But there’s a lot of work still to be done. The amount of devastation there was awesome.”

Returning firefighters were alternately hailed as “angels” and “heroes” by family, friends and political leaders, including Gov. Gray Davis and Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn.

Speaking for many, Kitahata’s wife, Cheryl, said the fanfare was tempered by the horrible reality of the events.

“You vacillate between feelings of joy that he’s OK, and sadness for everyone else. But mostly sadness,” Cheryl Kitahata said. “Whatever happened in New York, they had the best guys out there. If there was any chance of finding anybody they would have found them.”

The Los Angeles search team--made up of 66 firefighters, three doctors and an engineer, according to LAFD officials--were among three California-based units dispatched to the East Coast in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The other teams were from Riverside and Sacramento.

The eight days of work included grueling 12- to 15-hour shifts.

And while many firefighters expressed frustration for failing to find survivors, others like 11-year LAFD veteran Hollyn Bullock, 39, said that at least part of their mission had been accomplished.

“Even though the people we found weren’t alive, it gives their families closure,” Bullock said. “It’s not what we wanted, but it’s an important part of what we do.”

Fire Department officials said the teams brought 16,400 pieces of specialized rescue gear for confined spaces such as hydraulic or electrically powered concrete saws, jackhammers and drills.

The team also was equipped with advance medical supplies to act as independent, mobile hospitals to provide immediate medical care for victims at the scene.

Three dog teams--including one from the Winnekta fire station made up of Bella, an 8-year-old border collie, and her handler Deresa Teller--also made the trip.

Teller, who was sent to the scene of the bombed Oklahoma City federal building, described what she saw as “a million times worse.”

“The mass horribleness is there,” Teller said. “But you try to look beyond that to how you can try and help people.”

Teller described the pile as treacherous and said debris was burning at all times. “It was still smoldering and smoking when we left,” she said.