SURFSIDE, Fla. – A first responder who did not want to be identified confirmed to Local 10 News Friday that another rescuer found the body of his own daughter Thursday night as he was searching through the debris of the Champlain Towers South collapse.
The first responder said rescuers brought her down and the girl’s father draped his jacket over her body and placed a small American flag on the gurney.
The father, his brother and the other firefighters who dug her out escorted the body through a group of police officers and firefighters lined up on the roadway, the first responder said.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced just before 5 p.m. Thursday that the search had resumed after a temporary halt due to safety concerns regarding the standing structure.
Families of the victims and rescuers were all desperate for the search to resume after it was halted early Thursday morning, but engineers said the stop was necessary.
Fortunately, after an assessment by engineers, first responders were able to get back to work.
As of Friday morning, 18 people have been confirmed dead and 145 remain unaccounted for.
More heavy machinery was seen moving in Friday.
“Operations resumed at 4:45,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said Thursday. “At this time, rescue squads will be working in three of the nine grids.”
When the work stopped, people were frustrated, but the safety of first responders was in jeopardy after structural engineers and their monitoring systems detected movement of 6 to 12 inches in a column of the structure still standing.
This was just after 2 a.m. Thursday.
“The building itself has not moved, however debris in the pile below the building as well as debris on the building, of significant size had displaced,” said Scott Nacheman, a structural specialist with the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Incident Support Team.
Operations resumed Thursday afternoon.
“We will continue to search feverishly, as we have done all along in the parts of the collapse that we currently have access to,” Levine Cava said.
“Right now, we feel that it is safe to continue operations and that monitoring will continue until the operations are complete,” Nacheman said.
With the remaining structure severely damaged, plans to demolish what’s left of the Champlain Towers South is now something officials are considering for the safety of the crews down below.
“Any demolition process takes time,” Nacheman said. “Takes time to evaluate the current conditions, the planning for the demolition scheme and the actual on site preparations for the demo. So best case scenario, we are looking at weeks.”
Nacheman added that they would be bringing in more equipment and more sensors to closely watch portions of the building for the safety of the crews down below.
