Latest news with #UrbanSearchandRescue
International Business Times
10-07-2025
- Climate
- International Business Times
31 Workers Rescued After Tunnel Collapse in Los Angeles; No Injuries Reported
Thirty-one workers were safely rescued after a tunnel partially collapsed in Wilmington, Los Angeles, on Wednesday night. The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) responded quickly to the emergency inside the Los Angeles Effluent Outfall Tunnel—part of the $630.5 million Clearwater Project. The collapse was reported around 8 p.m. near South Figueroa Street and Q Street. The workers were deep underground, nearly 6 miles inside the tunnel and about 450 feet below the surface. Emergency responders, including LAFD's Urban Search and Rescue teams, were sent in to help. The collapse happened as a tunnel boring machine was in operation. A large amount of dirt, estimated at over 15 feet high, blocked part of the tunnel. Workers had to climb over this soil mound to reach safety. L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn confirmed all workers were rescued and had no visible injuries. Mayor Karen Bass praised the response, saying, "Thank you to our brave first responders. You are L.A.'s true heroes." According to LAFD Chief Villanueva, "A structural failure occurred 5 to 6 miles inside the tunnel. Workers made their way through debris before our teams assisted them out." The Clearwater Tunnel is a 7-mile-long, 18-foot-wide pipe meant to carry treated wastewater from the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant to the ocean. The tunnel is being built by Flatiron Dragados and replaces older systems from 1937 and 1958. Rescue teams faced tough conditions due to the tunnel's depth and distance from the entry point. Officials say the response was a major success, preventing a potential tragedy.
Daily Mirror
10-07-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
Several workers trapped as tunnel at construction site collapses
Multiple workers are trapped after an industrial tunnel - believed to be part of a boring operation linked to the Pacific Ocean collapsed in Los Angeles. The employees lost communication with those on the ground when the shaft caved in at around 8pm local time (4am UK). The fire service, which has sent around 100 firefighters, said the collapse happened as many as six miles away from the sole access point of the tunnel in the Wilmington area of the city. It is thought 31 employees at the site are missing, though a rescue operation is now underway. The collapse happened at the $630.5million (£463million) Los Angeles Effluent Outfall Tunnel project commissioned by the Los Angeles County Sanitation District, an operation to repair ageing sewage pipes underneath the city. Emergency personnel have utilised a huge cage mechanism to retrieve the trapped individuals, the fire service added. The mayor sent her thoughts with those affected by the disaster. At least 28 workers are thought to be trapped following the disaster at the Los Angeles County Sanitation District site. Emergency services have started a huge rescue mission. Mayor Karen Bass wrote on X: "The City of Los Angeles has mobilized resources to the tunnel collapse in Wilmington. More than 100 LAFD responders have been deployed, including Urban Search and Rescue teams. Thank you to all of those who are acting immediately to respond to this emergency."
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
FEMA's response to Texas flood slowed by Noem's cost controls
As monstrous floodwaters surged across central Texas late last week, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency leapt into action, preparing to deploy critical search and rescue teams and life-saving resources, like they have in countless past disasters. But almost instantly, FEMA ran into bureaucratic obstacles, four officials inside the agency told CNN. As CNN has previously reported, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — whose department oversees FEMA — recently enacted a sweeping rule aimed at cutting spending: Every contract and grant over $100,000 now requires her personal sign-off before any funds can be released. For FEMA, where disaster response costs routinely soar into the billions as the agency contracts with on-the-ground crews, officials say that threshold is essentially 'pennies,' requiring sign-off for relatively small expenditures. In essence, they say the order has stripped the agency of much of its autonomy at the very moment its help is needed most. 'We were operating under a clear set of guidance: lean forward, be prepared, anticipate what the state needs, and be ready to deliver it,' a longtime FEMA official told CNN. 'That is not as clear of an intent for us at the moment.' For example, as central Texas towns were submerged in rising waters, FEMA officials realized they couldn't pre-position Urban Search and Rescue crews from a network of teams stationed regionally across the country. In the past, FEMA would have swiftly staged these teams, which are specifically trained for situations including catastrophic floods, closer to a disaster zone in anticipation of urgent requests, multiple agency sources told CNN. But even as Texas rescue crews raced to save lives, FEMA officials realized they needed Noem's approval before sending those additional assets. Noem didn't authorize FEMA's deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding began, multiple sources told CNN. Homeland Security officials have defended the federal response in Texas and President Donald Trump's plan to dismantle FEMA and shift more responsibility for disaster response to states. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for DHS, told CNN: 'FEMA is shifting from bloated, DC-centric dead weight to a lean, deployable disaster force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens. The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades.' One Texas state official told CNN that the Texas emergency management division has been interacting with FEMA 'in the way we always do for disasters like this.' The official added that Texas has 'quite a bit of capabilities' related to disaster management on its own. Other aspects of the federal government have assisted, including the US Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection. But the additional red tape required at FEMA added another hurdle to getting critical federal resources deployed when hours counted. Texas did request aerial imagery from FEMA to aid search and rescue operations, a source told CNN, but that was delayed as it awaited Noem's approval for the necessary contract. FEMA staff have also been answering phones at a disaster call center, where, according to one agency official, callers have faced longer wait times as the agency awaited Noem's approval for a contract to bring in additional support staff. The chaos has exposed a deeper uncertainty within FEMA about its ability to respond, its mission, and its authority under the Trump administration — just as hurricane and wildfire seasons have gotten underway. Officials within FEMA warn that if the disaster had spanned a larger area and multiple states, the confusion and delays could have been even more severe. For months, FEMA officials have been warning that the agency is unprepared amid a mass exodus of experienced emergency managers and the looming threat of the agency being dismantled. CNN has reached out to FEMA for comment. After the skies over central Texas opened up and caused waters to rise more than 23 feet in under an hour in the early morning hours of Friday, dozens were swept away in the raging flood waters that surged around the Guadalupe River where campers and merrymakers had been looking forward to the Independence Day weekend. Five days later, the death toll of nearly 120 people continues to climb. More than 160 are still missing. Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Texas on Sunday, July 6. By Monday night, only 86 FEMA staffers had been deployed, according to internal FEMA data seen by CNN — a fraction of the typical response for a disaster of this scale. By Tuesday night, the federal response expanded to 311 staffers deployed, the data showed. Multiple FEMA officials told CNN that they were taken aback by the agency's relatively limited response in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. The tragedy in Texas has made one thing clear: The buck now stops with Noem. Her office has delegated little authority to acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson, who, as of Wednesday morning, has yet to visit Texas since the flooding began, multiple FEMA officials told CNN. 'DHS and its components have taken an all-hands-on-desk approach to respond to recovery efforts in Kerrville. FEMA has deployed extensive staff to support Texas response and recovery operations based on staff skills and requirements,' McLaughlin told CNN. The agency has activated its regional response center in Austin and sent a liaison officer to Kerrville, she said. 'DHS is rooting out waste, fraud, abuse, and is reprioritizing appropriated dollars. Secretary Noem is delivering accountability to the U.S. taxpayer, which Washington bureaucrats have ignored for decades at the expense of American citizens.' Texas, which has one of the most robust emergency management systems in the country, has managed this disaster largely on its own and leaned on its state and local search and rescue teams in the early hours of the disaster. More than 2,100 people have been deployed across 20 state agencies, Gov. Greg Abbott's office has said. To bolster the response at the outset, officials in Texas turned to the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), a mutual aid agreement between states to share resources during disasters. At least one state requested a guarantee that FEMA would cover the steep costs and potential damage to equipment, a promise the federal agency couldn't make on the spot, though the issue was quickly resolved, two sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN. All of this raises questions over the vision of emergency management Trump has laid out several times during this administration, in which states bear the brunt of the responsibility for disaster relief and FEMA is eventually 'phased out.' On Wednesday, Noem, his DHS secretary, called for the agency to be eliminated and remade after telling reporters the previous day: 'We, as a federal government, don't manage these disasters. The state does.' 'We come in and support them, and that's exactly what we did in this situation,' she said. Trump said: 'You had people there as fast as anybody's ever seen.' Melanie Hicken, Riane Lumer, Max Rego, Connor Greene, Sylvie Kirsch and Maria Moctezuma contributed to this report.
Global News
18-06-2025
- General
- Global News
A look at Nova Scotia's specially trained K-9 search and rescue team
When disaster strikes in Nova Scotia, a specially trained team of dogs and their handlers is ready to answer the call for help. This elite K-9 unit can sniff through rubble and wilderness to find survivors and save lives. There's only a handful of these teams in Canada. Agile, energetic, playful and hardworking, these are the qualities that make Labrador retriever, Vaz, stand out as a member of Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency's Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 5. View image in full screen Russell Brown and Labrador retriever, Vaz, are both members of Halifax's Urban Search and Rescue task force. Skye Bryden-Blom / Global News Russell Brown is the K-9 team lead, and says their dogs are trained to detect a human's scent, searching with their noses in the air. They're equipped to sniff out survivors buried beneath rubble after a building collapse. They've also added wilderness search and rescue to their portfolio. Story continues below advertisement 'If there have been a lot of people who have been searching the area already, it doesn't affect our dogs because our dogs are trained to ignore residual odour,' he said. 'They don't find articles. They don't care if there have been 100 people in the woods looking before us.' Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Russell calls the work a longtime passion, having studied animal behaviour before becoming a firefighter. For more on this story, watch the video above.
NZ Herald
02-05-2025
- NZ Herald
NZ Bravery Awards: Police officers recognised over Cyclone Gabrielle Muriwai landslide rescue
Nothing had been heard from van Zwanenberg, but Stevens' calls for help were coming from his jammed radio when Lewis and Head, who is also a volunteer firefighter, began searching. He could hear a faint response from inside the devastated area but struggled to pinpoint Stevens' location amid the noise of generators, shouting and banging, Head told the Police News magazine in May last year. Remembering videos from the Christchurch earthquake rescues, he told everyone to shut up. 'All this noise of chaos just disappeared … there's nothing but the storm howling, the rain hitting the iron roof. I put my head down a little gap and yelled out, 'Can you hear me?' 'Sure enough, a muffled response right below me.' With Lewis and the Muriwai brigade's deputy chief, the trio were able to clear timber frames, mud and bushes down about 1.5 metres before Head reached his arm in - and the trapped Stevens found his hand, the Helensville-based officer told Police News. 'We both grabbed hands and there was a quick embrace … [I thought], 'This can't be real life. I must be dreaming'." After nearly an hour, they got to the trapped firefighter. 'The only way I could tell where he was, was I could see these little lips moving in the mud', Head told Police News. 'Everywhere', Stevens replied, when asked where he was hurting. 'Just get me out of here.' The 26-year-old police officer decided to stay with Stevens while others cleared a path to get him out. He cleaned blood off Stevens' face, tried to get mud out of his eyes, and gave him water, Head said. The danger was far from over, with a second slip as large as the first occurring at 12.30pm. Amid screams of 'slip, slip', people scattered. Advertise with NZME. It sounded like a crack of lightning and looked like a big shadow, said Head of the slip hurtling towards the two police officers and the trapped firefighter. Both policemen decided to stay, with Head telling Police News he feared Stevens might 'lose hope' if left alone. The officers shared a brief glance, Lewis said. 'I just said, 'F***, bro', kind of, 'see you later'. I honestly thought, 'This is it, it's a slip and we're not getting away'', the 29-year-old said. Leaning over Stevens', Head waited to be buried, a burst of fear surging through him. '[The slip] got louder and louder and the vibrations got heavier and heavier. And then, it just never came over the top of us. Advertise with NZME. 'After that, I told Craig, 'Don't worry mate, I'm not going to leave you'. And he said, 'Thank you, I appreciate it'. 'I feel like that might have given him more will to actually hang in there a little bit', Head told Police News. Urban Search and Rescue eventually pulled the 39-year-old firefighter to safety three hours and 13 minutes after the landslide. The married father-of-two died in hospital three days later. 'His injuries were too great and eventually he was put in an induced coma,' Head told Police News. 'His family got the chance to say goodbye to him. Literally, upon saying goodbye, he passed away.' The body of 41-year-old van Zwanenberg, also a married father of two, was found 35 hours after the landslide and about 12 metres from where Stevens had been rescued. Tuesday's investiture ceremony was the latest for the formal presentation of the 38 citations announced in December. The citations recognise heroism across a range of events, including the New Lynn and Christchurch mosque attacks, Dunedin supermarket attack and Cyclone Gabrielle. Among those recognised was Constable Matthew Hunt, awarded a Bravery Decoration posthumously after he was killed in the line of duty in West Auckland five years ago next month. There are four types of bravery commendations, ranging from the bravery medal to the highest honour - the New Zealand Cross - which has been given four times since the awards began in 1999 as a replacement to the previous British bravery awards system.
