Harold Schapelhouman, a former Menlo Park Fire Protection District chief, has recalled leading a Bay Area urban search and rescue task force into Ground Zero in New York after the September 11 attacks.
California Task Force 3 reached the World Trade Center site several days after the towers collapsed, joining recovery teams searching through the vast debris pile for survivors and human remains.
Schapelhouman was a leader in the federal Urban Search and Rescue network, which he helped establish. The California team included firefighters, medics, engineers, technical search specialists and search dogs from agencies across the region.
The operation was initially driven by the hope of finding people alive, but the mission quickly became one of recovery. Teams worked through the wreckage of the towers, helping identify and recover remains for grieving families.
For Schapelhouman, the response was made even more personal by the death of New York Fire Department deputy chief Ray Downey, a friend and fellow task force member who was among the firefighters killed when the towers fell.
He has said the physical and psychological effects of the deployment continued long after the work at Ground Zero ended. According to Schapelhouman, about 70 per cent of his crew later suffered illnesses including pneumonia, skin problems and nosebleeds.
Despite the lasting impact, he said the team remained proud of its work and that none of its members would have chosen not to go.
