WAVELAND, Miss. - Almost everyone had something or someone in their hearts, but they put their minds to the job at hand.
For many of Montgomery County's search and rescue team, leaving home, comfort and loved ones to rescue victims of the worst Hurricane Katrina had to offer was not an easy decision, but there was only one right answer.
"My house burned the day before we left," said medic Fred Maxey. After finding his son's room filled with smoke, he got his family to safety, called 911, then put on his gear and began taking apart the wall that was in flames. By that time, his wife had pulled a water hose around and he put out the hottest part of the fire before turning it over to local fire and rescue.
"When I got outside, my wife came up to me and said, 'We took a vote, and you're going,' " Maxey said.
Others on his team had their own affairs to put on hold - anniversaries, children's first days of kindergarten, birthdays.
Taking their minds off these concerns, two reconnaissance teams of Maryland Task Force 1 trudged into Mississippi mud so thick it added several pounds to each boot.
They climbed into the few houses still standing. Most structures only yielded enough of a crawl space to holler for survivors. "Rescue! Yell if you can hear me."
At first, Waveland, Miss., was a ghost town. Maybe a few dozen rode out the storm nearby or survived the 30-foot storm surge. But as the days wore on and the temperature climbed, more residents returned to see what had become of their homes.
"Before you're going into these standing houses, there are people coming back," search team leader Kenny O'Leary cautioned them one morning. "I know some of you are doing callouts. Please don't go kicking in the door. They may be worried, trying to defend their stuff. We don't want any of you getting shot."
From the Federal Emergency Management Agency central command, they learned of other dangers: snakes, alligators and the heavily contaminated mud. Although gas lines had been shut down, pockets of explosive gas remained in many homes.
Once a house was cleared, rescue personnel marked it with their team, the date and whether they found survivors or hazards.
'Just unbelievable'
Katrina hit Waveland and Bay St. Louis the hardest.
"A lot of teams are getting lost. There's a lot of debris in the street. If it's not debris, you've got a house planted in the middle of the street. It's the worst I've ever seen," said team planner Rich Tatum. He rode out Hurricane Andrew, which ravaged Miami as he was helping his brother move.
Tatum rode with the teams some days to assist the search effort and to document the mission with a digital camera. Other days, he created the maps they used in the field from a fortified communications trailer equipped with a satellite uplink.
For first-time team members like Larry Murray, a Cub Scout leader from Columbia, the devastation was stunning. "All your training, all your practice - nothing prepares you for this. The devastation is just unbelievable. It can't be put into words."
Dealing with the unfathomable
Team members found different ways to deal with the enormity of the catastrophe.
Search team leader Kathy Draper, like many, employed humor to keep it light. "It's like 'Groundhog Day' - you wake up and do the same thing every single day."
It helps to consider the locals, said task force leader John Tippett.
Members of the Waveland Fire Department traveled with search teams, giving them extra information about the neighborhoods they searched. The firefighters are getting paid for their work, Tippett said, but there is nowhere to cash a check. "They're out here filling our water tanks. These guys don't have anything. It's just really humbling to work with them," he said.
Even as days passed without a single rescue, Tippett said the team's work is not thankless.
"It's not the gold-medal saves," he said. "It's the little things that make a big difference in most of those people's lives."
