Team searches for keepsakes in rubble of destroyed Fort Mac homes
Posted Jun 6, 2016 7:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A specialized recovery team is digging up what it can in what’s left of the Fort McMurray homes destroyed by flames.
Team Rubicon Canada is a NGO made up of first responders, along with current and veteran military members who are trained to safely enter disaster zones and recover valuables amid the toxins and hazards on site.
They’re sifting through the hardest hit communities of Abasand, Beacon Hill and Waterways starting Wednesday.
Team Rubicon dug through a zone in Stone Creek, as work to look through damaged homes outside of the three seriously destroyed areas is already underway.
They recovered ceramic figurines and silverware passed down through generations, while on site at off-limits homes sprayed with tackifier to seal in the ash and toxins left behind.
Paul Hassanally is a Canadian soldier and volunteer.
He says homes in the less heavily damaged zones are actually more dangerous because of they could collapse, and there are buildings the crew won’t enter.
“Although some members on the team have experienced working in urban search and rescue, the risk to sending a team in there to try and look for things is usually too high, because of the risk of collapse and usually those kinds of efforts are only saved for when there’s a person to be rescued,” Hassanally said.
People can register to have the team search through their property until June 19.
