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,.,rr 2 Fort Collins Coloradoan August 1976 Flood alert sent state officials into quick action By MARILYN HOLMES For the Cbloradoan Disasters that leave in their wake the agony of death and anxiety about future occurrences inevitably raise the quesUon of the ability of local, state and federal officials to cope. Do they have an instant plan of aclion that goes into effect when disaster strikes? Who Is noUfied and in what order? What are the state's emergency procedures? The flash flood that surged down the Big Thompson Canyon on Saturday, July 31. during the height of ())!orado's tourist season set a number of state organizations into action. . One of the first calls came from Earl Denton, the Lartmer County coordinator lor the state's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at Camp Ge9rge West in Golden. .~- Logan R. Rappe, EOC chief, told the Coloradoan that Denton called about 10:30 p.m. Saturday nIght to alert them to the problems developing in the canyon and ask tor certain kinds of assistance. The EOC offers various kinds of assistance when called upon and especially when such problems go beyond the capablllty 01 the counties tnvolved, according to Rappe who has been through seven such disaster operations in the state. From that time on Saturday night. the EOC began monitoring the flood and disaster operations. and early Sunday morning they alerted search and rescue teams who have special expertise to work in the moun- ta1nou8 terrain. At 3:30 a.m., Rep. James Uoyd. D-Loveland, awoke Gov. Richard Lamm and told him of the lIash flood and emergency situation. Lamm told Uoyd that he needed official word from the sheriff, Bob Watson. who by law Is in charge of the operation. Five minutes later Lamm received that call from Sherttf Watson indicating more help would be needed to rescue survivors trapped in the canyon. The rescue mission was then beefed up "ith Hule helIcopters, MAST helicopters from Ft. Carson and Wyoming. the medIcally. equipped rescue helicopters lrom St. Anthony's Hospital in Denver and others. Lamm, who had been scheduled to climb Mt. Evans early Sunday morning in a Colorado Day . celebration, eancellb:J those plaJUl and joined Gen. WUllam David Weller. chiel 01 Military Affairs at daybreak for a helicopter tour 01 the ....a. Gov. Richard Lamm was surrounded by reporters on his first visit to the flood scene 'IHE NATIONAL GUARD had been alerted about 4 a.m. and was on the scene by 8:30 Swulay morn- ing. according to Gen. Weller. The Fort Collins contingent of the guard had been scheduled to leave at 2 a.m. Sunday for summer maneuvers, Weller said. which was prior to the time he had been alerted to the disaster. Rappe added that, under the circumstances, special MP units of the guard were called out because they have special training In first aid and law enforcement. ..... Lamm, Weller, and State Patrol chiel Col. C. Wayne Keith surveyed both the Estes Park area and Loveland command post of Shertff Watson to assess the needs and coordinate their activities. All agreed that the primary mLsslon was to rescue survivors as quickly as possible. The injured, aged and children were brought out of the canyon first and the evacuation was complete by Thesday night, Rappe said. The rescue operations were hampered Monday by the weather when helicopters were unable to fly into the area. ~ ....l:iAMM.~RE'n1RNED from ,he first Dight over the canyon ih time to make one scheduled Colorado Day celebration - a bell-ringing ceremony at the capitol. ... Identifying the dead was a 'team' effort Undoubtedly. the most somber task being performed in the wake of the Big Thompson flood is the identlf1caUon of bodies. Yet, stripped of Its tragic elements. the work Is an exciting tale ot a necessliry operation moving quickly lrom a mak~shift beginning to an often ingenious detective en. terprise. The work runs on a two-track system. lnionnation garnered lrom close examination of bodies Is compared with data taken trom relatives and friends of mlssing po.....,.. In spite of all the expertise applied to the task. success sometimes hinges, in the end, on a shade of nail polish or a piece of jewelry. "We use everything," said Michael Charney. a physical an. thropologlst at Colorado State University and deputy Lartmer Q:luntycoroner. '!HE WORK BEGAN within hours of the 1l00d waters' passage along the course 01 the Big Thompson River. Init1al1y the bodles were taken to the Kibbey.Flshburn F\meral Home. whose owners just were linIshIng their two-month stint as the deputy coroners In Loveland. Under the coroner system, funeral homes in each city rotate coroner duty in their areas. But this event. in .-. ---.., ...."... ..-......'1.............. combined services 01 all morticians In Larimer as well as some in Weld County. according to Larimer County Coroner Robert SchmJdt. The coroner first was contacted about Ule flood by Fred Fishburn about 7 a.m. Sunday and arrived at the Loveland funeral home a short Umelater. The Larimer County sheriff's mobIle laboratory wtIt also arrived at Kibbey's to make fingerprints for Identification. SchmJdt saJd it quickly became apparent that the funeral home and .. Its staff, along with himself, couldn't begin to handle the large number of bodies. A~t that time J~ Uwm. a District Hospital Board member, showed up. He helped along 'Nith fellow board members George Ugotke and Dan Freddy, arrange the use of the old Loveland Memorial Hospital as a temporary morgue by mJd-morning. The coroner also began calling some deputies. "What do you have, a mass murder?" Charney asked when called about noon. He had not yet heard about the 1l00d. He was joined by Dr. Patrick Allen, pathologist at the McKee Medical Center, and Dr. Gerald Puls. assistant dtrector of the CSU Student Health Service. For the first few days several Loveland dentists assisted this team unW Lt, Co!. William Morlang, an Air Force dentist 'Nith expertise in lorenslc dentistry. showed up. 'The initial group Inspected the hospital and found no chairs or tables. only one telephone and air conditioners that couldn't be turned on at first. "We never had a plan," Olamey said. "We just put this together from scratch using common sense. " AFTER A FEW days the bodies were stored in relrtgerated tnJck trailers behind the hospital because many 01 the bodies were so badiy mangled that they could not retain embalm1.ng fluid. But at first, separate rooms were designated for men and women. (From the beginning, Charney saJd there were many more women than men. Of the first 100. he estimated that two-thirds were women and one-third men.) . 'IlIe bodies were laid around the rooms with feet toward the walls and heads toward the center so they could be approachtd easily lor examInation. A number for each body was attached to the wall above Ulefeet. They each came from the mor- tuarie8 tagged wlth a pink slip. describing their basic charac. teristics such as height and weight. But Charney said these just weren't detaJled enough to do the job so for the first three days he and the other specialists examined each. body previously recovered - be. tween working on the most recently recovered bodies as they were delivered. "It's diversity that makes lor identifteation." the CSU professor ""d. " FIRST. PHOTOGRAPHS and~ fingerprints are taken of each body. Then every possJble detaU is':'-: recorded including birthmarks. ~ scars, dental leatures, ,texture ofar. hair, hand size and whether the earsf."' were pierced. Ml jewelry on th~~ body also is remcwed, tagged an%,:, filed lor safekee~iJig-. ..~, In all there are 'up to 151 categorie({ 01 Information. It tlf recorded both.,. orally by tape.' recorder as the~ autopsy Is underway and in wrltlng.l'''': Charney said it takes about 1',.... minutes to perform thj{;~ examination. " ,; .' This Information Is twned Over to.:~ ' the data or "make" section, ak:i: t.'harney calls it. whlch tries to make an Identification. Six categories of information _ name. age. sex, weight, color of hall' and scars - are then fed into a computer donated by the Hewlett. Packard Co. Both the computer and members of the data section by hand then attempt to match tnfonnation from the autopsy with Information on missing persons. Dental records sent to the morgue by the dentists of mJssing persons - The rest 01 Sunday he spent conferring with Gen. Weller, Cot Keith. Rappe an:'! Don Eddy, head of the Federal Disaster Assistance Admln1stration, to determine Ule extent of the emergency and prepare a request to President Ford for assistance. 1bat letter was transmUted to Washington at 7:30 p.m. Sunday night and Ford's reply was received in record time by 9 a.m. Monday. Ford declared l.arlmer County as a disaster area due to the flood and f ~~:;t~t;~.~to~~ligib~:'~~~ ./ Sunday evening, Lamm made a"'- seeond hellcopter trip to Ule area. He admitted that communication was one 01 the most dlfl1cult problems in the ~arly hours ot the flood. ' Maj. Kenneth Powell 01 the Stale Patrol was In charge of the com. mwtlcation center in Denver. He called in extra dispatchers to aid the scaled-down weekend shift. THE MAIN communIcations system was handled by a big pollee wtIt and the National Guard's unit which were operating by Sunday night. according to Lamm. Ham radio operators helped early In . the rescUf mlSSlorlf lihd were pr8tsed by Rappe for their help. By Monday night a direct line had been put In place between the water conservancy district ofl1ce and the governor for Instant com- mwtlcatlon. On Monday. which was a state hoBday, Lamm spent time with several staff members who had been called In to review his powers under the state's emergency act and chart strategy, according to Lee White, an assistant to the governor. Those powers are quite extensive, according to White, and include such things as expropriating private property It needed to save lives and appropriating funds as he sees tit. Neither 01 -those powers were used, he said, but the governor did issue four executive orders since that time under the emergency act. One order Lamm issued was requested by the state highway department to waive regulations so that the pioneer road could be pushed through the canyon. Under ordinary circumstances, proper notice must be given and hearings must be held before state olflcJals could go onto private property for that purpose. Sheriff Watson asked Lamm lor the same authority to restore pubUc services. LARIMER COUNTY com. 'missioners asked the governor for speelal authority for debris removal and alsu the legal authority to place th~ six-month moratorium on building In the canyon. Lamm Issued both orders. Although Lamm told the Coloradoan that he has not yet called in all the various people Involved to make a Crltlque of the way the'state reacted. "I'm proud but 1'I0t com- placent about how to run it next time." He said that "the whole cIvil delense system is slanted toward nuclear disasters and things like that and it raises the question whether we shouldn't have a lot 01 additional training for civil defense people." . Powell said the State Patrol will probably ask the legislature for a larger command center vehicle. such as a large mobile home w1tt, which could be used lor a command post where the governor and others could meet and would also house the mobile radio communications center. He added that booster stations for communications would be very helpful because the mountalns cause radio transmittal problems. "If such a disaster were to happen tomorrow I think we could all respond more quickly." Lee saJd. While all the state olflctals may not agree about what needs to be done, either to prevent or how to handle any future such disaster, they all heaped praise on Sheriff Watson lor the way in which he handled the d!sllster. ~ .l:J} -11.: .~~ "" - :', I , I rfefrigerated trucks were loaned to store bodies until identification was made "i also are ~rded and compared with charts prepared by Morlang on the wtIdenll!led bodies. When tw~ appears to be a posl~e igeptWcation, l;tte relatives of the' ~ are cootacted and asked to'review the case, including any j~elr.y and a photograph - If the ~1s recognizable. ;.Ti41 , -~. ONi:&:~'iT THIS POINT, when a relattl'ifil~able to say a picture resembl~s' his missing family member, Is a body actually shown. "Oq[ whole phJJosophy all along ~ been no mass viewing of bodJPl\. . ''h1ame~v said. From the beginning this process has been fraught with problel1Ul. "Ninety.five per cent of Ule bodies were absolutely na_ed when they came In." Charney said. Thts situation eliminated one method of identlf1catlon. Despite the expertise provided by an FBI team, efforts to Identity bodies by IIngerprints were someUmes frustrated by married women whose prints were f1led under their maJden name, Equipment was also nonexistent lor the first few days. "FOR 'llIE FIRST three days we didn't have gloves or any'gowns." Charney added. He said work began on a couple of benches the staff happened to find In, a room of the old hospital. "Gum. les," carts for transporting bodies, only were obtaIned re- cently. And "rickety" ladders had to be used to get bodies Into the refrtgeratecl semi trailers until a local company built some platforms. Schmidt saId obtaining the trucks for bodies, also was a problem because of the hoUday weekend. The coroner said he started worktng on it Sunday moming but the first ones weren't deHvered unW Tuesday. There are now seven located behind the old hospital. An adequate X.ray wtIt was another Item that was difflcult to obtalnatfirst. FInally a nurse remembered a physician in Loveland who had a portable unit In stol!lge and the unit was obtained. "It has helped us Immensely." Olamey said. In one case. he recalled, a relative said a missing person had had a hip replaced. The X.ray showed the metal prosthetic. Another Identification was "made" because of na1l polish. An wrldentlfled woman had a small amount of poUsh on one finger and a relative brought in a bottle of polish that matched exactly. In several cases jewelry has been the "key" to completing an Iden- tIfication, according to Dorothy Abbey who is responsible for Ita care. (It Is stored at night 1n a Loveland safe.) Of Ule first 100 bodies. she said ahout half had jewelry. Even though individual Items such as these flnaIIy might conllrm an Identification, the staff never stops at that point. "We never short circuit the ldentlf1catlon process," Charney saId. "The record should be totaL" The physicians also declined to take credit for any identification of a speclfic body. saying only that "we are a team." -JAKE HENSHAW