ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP) -- When Mississippi, Louisiana and Uncle Sam called before and after Hurricane Katrina, at least five emergency workers from York County who are members of state and federal disaster teams pitched in for rescue, recovery, medical care and even handling of the dead.
They were shocked by the devastation. Some are veterans. Others are young men with strong stomachs. All remain undaunted in a commitment to helping others who need responders' special skills.
In nine days working in a Gulfport, Miss., field hospital set up in a land hospital parking lot, Fort Mill's Paul King and his 32-member team from the FEMA-administered North Carolina Disaster Medical Assistance Team helped with 1,230 patients. His unit, one of 34 teams set up in a horseshoe around the gulf, was mobilized Aug. 28, before the storm.
Once in Gulfport three days later, King, a Charlotte, N.C., firefighter and Fort Mill Rescue assistant director, helped treat non-life-threatening injuries. The field hospital is similar to a military field hospital.
''We saw everything from sprains and cuts, nail punctures to dog bites,'' King said. ''Chain saw injuries. It was nonstop all day.''
From the Rock Hill Fire Department, two firefighters who are part of state and federal teams helped out. Paramedic Shawn Craig is part of the National Medical Response Team that handles the eastern part of the country. Craig, also deployed Aug. 28, traveled with 36 doctors, nurses and medical professionals who went through areas that had been combed through first by search and rescue teams who had hoped to find the living.
If they didn't, men like Craig cleaned up the bodies.
Craig cleaned biohazards and the bodies in coastal Mississippi where storm surge and destroyed sewer plants had ruined miles of homes and killed dozens.
Craig, like all members of his unit, had crisis counseling after his two-week tour and expects no problems. But the image in his brain remains.
''Some of the things I've seen, people just aren't supposed to see,'' Craig said.
Fellow firefighter Chuck Haynes and his search dog Gator were part of 40 from the Task Force-1 urban search and rescue team sent Sept. 4 by South Carolina to relieve Louisiana state crews. He spent most of his time in St. Bernard Parish, outside New Orleans ''that looked like a bomb had gone off,'' Haynes said.
If Haynes and Gator found the living, Haynes helped them. If Haynes found the dead, he marked the spot and moved on. One woman was rescued from a church 10 days after the storm, he said.
''Everything left standing was covered in mud, including the people,'' Haynes said. ''The smell just is horrible. This was a week after the storm and people there still were waiting for help. The fire chief there was weeping when we showed up because help had arrived.''
Haynes would still be there but his team was recalled as Hurricane Ophelia threatened the South Carolina coast. If called, Haynes said he would go back.
''People there need it and deserve it and I should help any way I can,'' Haynes said. ''If Rock Hill got flattened, I would hope people like me would do the same.''
It may be weeks and weeks before the dead are counted, said York County Coroner Doug McKown, who came home Monday night, 16 days after he drove to the Gulf to help with FEMA's Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team.
''Is it going to be an issue where people were washed out to sea and were gone forever?'' McKown asked. ''We may never know.''
York County Emergency Management director Cotton Howell remains in Gulfport as coordinator of the mortuary team handling six Mississippi counties. Although Howell is dealing with identifying the dead and then helping assist families, the living haunt him.
''This community is just ravaged,'' Howell said. ''There are still food lines. Water lines. People are just getting fuel. They don't have anything left from their lives.''
Howell hopes to rotate home this weekend. But after almost 30 years in emergency management, he's not done and will go again if called.
''I'm trained to do the job and I do it, like all the other people here,'' Howell said. ''I look around here every day and know how lucky I am.''
Information from: The Herald
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
