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A WEEK IN HELL By Hugh Jones |
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John Randall thought he was ready. He worked the ruins of the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City after the 1995 bombing. He worked the ruins of neighborhoods after a massive F5 tornado tore through the suburbs in 1999. He saw bad things. But nothing prepared him for the week he and his search and rescue dog Gunner spent in lower Manhattan: "That was the worst–total devastation, no signs of life, flames kicking up, smoke rising, everything covered in dust and ash–kind of like the way I've imagined hell to be." Randall and his Rottweiler were the first team from this area in New York City after the World Trade Center disaster. Although Gunner is trained to find the live and the dead, he found only the latter.  "He had 33 alerts," says Randall, "but they were for bodies (six) and body parts. Sometimes, we wouldn't find a body, but a Port Authority hat and badge, a fireman's coat. It was a humbling experience–makes you think twice about taking life and loved ones for granted." Gunner, a hundred pounds of toughness with a gentle heart, has plenty of experience in stressful situations. But this one had an effect on him too. "He got depressed, like the other dogs," says Randall. "And yet, when he was out of the rubble, he'd revert to his therapy dog role around the workers, breaking the sadness, at least for a moment." Although Gunner got sick once, and fatigued overall, he faired better than several dogs that died at the site. And others were injured. Randall went in with hard hat, gloves, knee protectors and a respirator. Gunner went in with only little boots on his feet. The dogs go where humans can't, and where they go is often unstable and dangerous.  "One dog fell into a depression; they couldn't get to him, and he died of carbon monoxide poisoning," says Randall. "The destruction was unimaginable: big steel beams bent like toothpicks, piles of rubble 200 feet high, next to holes six stories deep." Add to that, the challenge of darkness. The pair trudged through 12-hour shifts, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. That, at least, spared Gunner from the heat exhaustion some dogs suffered. Randall bears the weight of grim images in his memory. But he also witnessed uplifting sights. "The mood of the workers was inspiring," he says. "They were exhausted too, but they never gave up. And the horror stories you hear about New York and its people, not true. They were all great. As for Gunner, I'm proud of the way he performed." Read more about John and Gunner Back to Archives |
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