After spending more than 10 days searching for earthquake survivors in Venezuela, a rescue team from the Los Angeles County Fire Department arrived home Monday night.
Family members rushed over to greet their loved ones after the bus rolled in at the fire department facility in Pacoima at 10 p.m.
Taylor Deutsch, whose fiancé, Kyle, was one of the more than 70 task force members, said she was excited that he was finally home.
“This isn't our first time,” she explained to KNX News’ Jon Baird. “He went to Turkey a few years ago, but it was before we had our daughter, so it's a little different now that we have her. It, like. puts things in perspective, and yes, we were so excited he came home.”
L.A. County Assistant Fire Chief Trey Espy recalled to Baird some of the rescues the team took part in.
“There was a 9-month-old baby that we pulled out alive with her mom, and that was, you know, very good. That was a very positive experience for us,” Espy said. “We also rescued a gentleman who had been trapped for nine days in an underground parking lot where we were able to make a small hole and pass water to him through a tube to keep him alive while we figured out it was a very complex rescue.”
Arby Fields, one of the task force members who worked with a search dog, Greta, said the dog saved one man’s life while digging through rubble.
“She is trained to detect live, human scent,” he said. “She went out there and barked a couple of times, which is good, which is exciting. Guys started digging. Actually, the guy that they pulled out, I got news of the guy that they pulled out that was, like, buried for eight days. Greta actually found that guy on day two. So it was really cool.”
He said they tried to help as many people as they could.
“A lot of devastation,” he said. “I don't want to say chaos, but just a lot of heartache and sadness, you know what I mean?”
As of July 6, the death toll from the Venezuelan earthquakes was at 3,535, according to Reuters.
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