Indiana Task Force 1 helps in Florida condo collapse
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Among the search and rescue teams digging through the rubble in Florida are members of Indiana Task Force 1.
Indianapolis Fire Department Battalion Chief Jay Settergren says he is leading a team of 80 people.
“Literally, we’re getting about 4 hours of sleep at night because we have paperwork, we have medical checks, we have food, we have showers,” Settergren said.
He says his group is divided in half, each working 12-hour shifts in extreme heat.
“I have a lot of people that I’m concerned about that I have to make sure that I did my best job in returning them in the same fashion they joined me, so that means delivering them back home safely and that includes physically and mentally and so we look at all aspects of that and both of those are extremely difficult in this particular deployment,” Settergren said.
Settergren has been with the Indianapolis Fire Department for more than 30 years and on Task Force 1 for more than 20. He says while each deployment comes with challenge this has been one of the toughest given the circumstances.
“This is the first one like this I’ve been on where it’s actually not a natural disaster, it’s not a terrorist event, but for no good reason half of a building has collapsed with 150-plus folks in it,” Settergren said.
The team’s mindset is search and rescue, and Settergren says the plans are precise.
“We’re doing some focused, basically, searches, where we get good intelligence that people are in a certain area or were known to be in that area and so we work very diligently when we get into those areas, but we’re using everything from cranes to move pieces of the building down to buckets and doing bucket brigades, moving small pieces out so we can make access to these small void areas where we may find some people that have been able to survive that,” Settergren said.
Sometimes, the days end in disappointment but Settergren says the support from home keeps them strong.
“We greatly appreciate the encouragement, it’s not an easy thing to do and it’s just nice to kind of see that,” Settergren said.
Hurricane Elsa has delayed some progress, but Settergren says it’s also given crews much-needed breaks. It’s not clear how long Task Force 1 will stay in Florida. Settergren says they’re prepared for the long haul.