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BEDFORD, Ohio — Brian Harting, a lieutenant for the Bedford Fire Department, just arrived back home after spending 15 days in Florida helping with recovery efforts at the site of the Surfside Condominium collapse.
He’s a rescue squad officer for the Ohio Task Force 1 and went with 80 other teammates.
“We came together and worked really well together on a very difficult situation,” he said.
He worked the late shift from midnight to noon.
There were multiple challenges including an unstable site, Hurricane Elsa and extreme heat.
“We had a lot of adversity emotionally, physically, mentally, environmentally to deal with while we were working there,” Harting said.
When he arrived, he was hopeful it would be a rescue mission, but it turned into a recovery mission.
“Our goal, No. 1, was to make a rescue, to find some hidden voids within the building that were survivable. Quickly, it became apparent that due to the nature of the collapse and the type of collapse that there weren’t a whole lot voids and that we are mostly doing recovery.”
While not finding survivors was a disappointment, he hopes the recovery work brings some form of relief to families who lost a loved one.
“There was a huge appreciation and relief that we were able to help, the responders have been working for a long period of time . . . but the families are able to get that closure that they desperately wanted.”
Now Harting is back home with his family.
“It was nice to come home last night and see them. They were definitely happy to see me, so it’s a good feeling.”
