Command post rises at levee

By DAVID LYONS, LISA ARTHURJOANNE CAVANAUGHAND CONNIE PILOTO
Herald Staff Writers

But an hour after the crash, tranquillity vanished with a rush of rescue workers and newspaper, television and radio reporters. With them came TV antennas, mobile phones and long-range cameras.

CNN, Time, Newsweek and The Washington Post were among the national news organizations that descended on the scene along with a host of local media.

Officers from Metro-Dade Police and Fire-Rescue and the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission gathered at a hastily set up command center on the L67 levee about a half mile from the crash. Helicopters landed on the ridge to drop off firefighters as wildlife officers cruised past in airboats.

Lt. Dwayne Driggers of Broward Fire-Rescue, one of the first at the scene, rode on a bass boat to within a quarter mile of the crash site.

``It didn't look like anything out of the ordinary had happened,'' Driggers said. ``Just sawgrass and muck.''

Broward Battalion Chief Ben Alderson flew over the site in a helicopter.

``All I could see was part of the fuselage in the black murky water,'' Alderson said. ``You couldn't even tell there was a plane crash.''

The levee became a parking lot for ambulances, police cars, fuel trucks and bulldozers waiting atop flatbed trucks. It was there that the victims were expected to be brought before being taken to the morgue.

``It will probably take three or four days to clean up,'' said J.C. Esslinger, a wildlife officer. ``It will all have to be all done by airboat.''

Rescuers found two areas with the most extensive scattered debris. One was about 100 feet by 100 feet, the other smaller.

As the sun set, Metro rescue trucks continued to stream west on the Trail. Several towed trailers filled with trees of high-intensity flood lights. A legion of portable toilets also was being brought in.

``It's very obvious we're going to be here for days,'' said Lt. Luis Fernandez, a spokesman for Metro-Dade Fire-Rescue.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers stood watch along Krome Avenue levies, turning away would-be heroes and curiosity seekers. Trooper Alex Rodriguez, posted across from Jones Trailer Park, had turned away nearly a dozen airboats in just four hours.

He sprayed himself down with insect repellent and settled in for the night.