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,.,rr 2 Fort Collins Coloradoan Flood alert sent state officials into quick action '~," ~~ By MARILYN HOLMES For the Cbloradoan Otsasters that leave In their wake the agony of death and anxlety about future occurrences inevitably raise the question of the ability of local, state and federal officials to cope. Do they have an ln8tant plan of action that goes Into effect when disaster strikes? Who Is notHied 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 Colorado's tourist season set a number of state organ1:atlons into action. . One of the first calla came from J1:;arl Denton, the Larimer Cotmty coordinator for the state's Emergency Operatlons Center (E(X)) at Camp Ge9rge West in Golden. Logan R. Rappe, EOC chief, told Ole Coloradoan that Denton called about 10:30 p.m. Saturday night to alert them to the problems developing In the canyon and ask lor certain kinds of assistance. The EOC offers various kinds of assistance when called upon and especially when such problems go beyond the capab1l1ty of the counties Involved, 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. tainous terrain. At 3:30 a.m., Rep. James Uoyd, [)'Loveland, awoke Gov. Richard lAmm and told him 01 the flash flood and emergency situation. Lamm told Uoyd that he needed official word from the sheriff, Bob Watson, who by law Is in charge ot the operation. Five minutes later Lamm received that call from Sheriff Watson indicating more help would be needed to rescue survivors trapped in the canyon. The reSCue mission was then beefed up ....1th Hule helicopters, MAST helicopters from Ft. Carson and Wyoming, the medically. equlpped rescue helicopters from St. Anthony's Hospital In Denver and others. lmnm, who had been scheduled to climb Mt. Evans early Sunday morning In a Colorado Day . celebration, canceUtd thoBe plans and joined Gen. WUllam David WeUer, chief of MIlitary Affairs at daybreak for a helicopter tour of the area, August 1976 Gov. Richard Lamm was surrounded by reporters on his first visit to the flood scene '!HE NATIONAL GUARD had been alerted about" a.m. and was on Ule scene by 8:30 SWlday mom. 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, wh.lch was prior to the time he had been alerted to the disaster. Rappe added that, under the clrcumstanC('s, special MP units of the guard were called out because they have special training In flrstaJd and law enforcement. .. . Lamm, Weller, and State Patrol chief CoJ. C. Wayne Keith surveyed both the Estes Park area and Loveland command post of Sheriff Watson to assess the needs and coordinate their activities. AU agreed that Ute primary mission was to rescue survivors 88 quickly as possible. The Injured, aged and children were brought out ot the canyon first and the evacuation was complete by Thesday night, Rappe said. The rescue operatlons were hampered Monday by the weather when helicopters were W18ble to Oy into the area. l "l::iAMM.-.RJIl'I'URNEI) from the first tllght'over the ca:liyon In urrte to make one scheduled Colorado Day celebration - a bell-ringing ceremony at the capitol. ... Identifying the dead was a 'team' eHort Undoubtedly, the most somber task being pertonned in the wake of the Big Thompson flood is the Identltlcation of bodies. Yet, stripped of Its tragic elements, the work Is an exciting tale of a necessary operation moving qulckly from a makl!sh.lft beginning to an often ingenious detective en. terprise. The work runs on a two-track system. lnlonnatlon garnered from close examinatlon of bodies Is compared ....1th data taken from relatlves and friends of missing "."""', In spite of all the expertise applied to the task, success sometimes hinges, in the end, on a shade ot nail polish or a piece of jewelry. "We use eVerything," said MJchael Charney, a physIcal an. thropologlst at Colorado State University and deputy Larimer County coroner. 1HE WORK BEGAN within hours of the flood waters' passage along the course of the Big Thompson River. Init1ally the bodies were taken to the Klbbey.Fishburn FUneral Home, whose owners just .....ere finish.lng their two-month stint as the deputy coroners In loveland. Under the coroner system, funeral homes in each city rotate coroner .~!r...~.. th~~;e~.:...~t.~~":.en~~n combined services of all morticians In Larimer as well as some In Weld County, according to Larimer County Coroner Robert Schmidt. The coroner first was contacted about the flood by Fred F1s.hburn about 1 a.m. Sunday and arrived at the Loveland funeral home a short t1melater. The La.r:lmer County shertff's mobile laboratory unit also arrived at Kibbey's to make flngerprlnts tor IdenUflcatlon. Schmidt said It quiCkly became apparent that the funeral home and .. it.sstalf, along with himself, couldn't begin to handle the large number of bodies. About that time John Irwin, a DIstrict Hospital Board member, showed up. He helped along with tellow board members George Ugotke and Dan Freddy, arrange the use of the old Loveland Memorial Hospital as a temporary morgue by mld'momlng. 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 flood. He was joined by Dr. Patrick Allen, pathologist at the McKee Medical Center, and Dr. Gerald Puis, assistant dlrector of thE' CSU Student HealUl Service. For the first few days several Loveland dentists assisted this team unW U, Col. William Morlang, an Air Force dentist with expertise in forensic dentistry, sho.....ed up. 'The InlUal group inspected the hospital and found no chairs or tables, only one telephone and all' conditioners that couldn't be turned on at first. "We never had a plan," Olarney said. "We just put th1s together from scratch using common sense." AFI'ER A FEW days the bodies were stored In refrigerated truck trallers beh.lnd the hospital because many of the bodiE's were so badly mangled Ulat they could not retain embalm1ng auld. But at first, separate rooms were designated for men and women. (From the beginning, Charney said there were many more women than men. Of the first 100, he estimated that two-thirds were women and one.th.lrd men.) The bodies were laid around the rooms with feet toward the walls and heads toward the center so they could be approachM easily for examination. A number for each body was attached to the wall above the feet. They each came from the mor. tuaries tagged with a pink slip, describing their baaic charac. teristics such as height and weight. But Charney said these just weren't detalled enough to do the job so tor the first three days he and the other specialists examined each. body previously recovered - be. tween working on the most recently recovered bodJes as they were deUvered. "It's diversity that makes tor ident1f1ea.tlon," the CSU professor ..Jd, FIRST, PHOTOGRAPHS and~ tlngerprintsare taken of each body. Then every possible detail 18';"; recorded including blrthmarks, ~~~n:e :-;~=ih~~x~u;:,::{ were pierced. AI:J)' .j~~elry on the~: body also is remo~ed, tagged and )J~ tt1edforsafekeeij~g. .';~ In all there are~up to til categorie~t of infonnation. It is recorded botl'i.. :~~un~~:c:n~~ V:t1n~~m Olarney said 'it takes about 1$ '.: minutes to perform tht-; examination. ,-' This Jntorrnatlon Is turned over ~:~ the data or "make" section, ak"j. Olamey caUs It, .....hlch tries to make an identification. Six categories ot tntonnation _ name, age, sex, weight, color of haJr and scars - are then led into a computer donated by the Hewlett. Packard Co. Both the computer and members of the data section by hand then attempt to match Intormation from the autopsy with Information on mJss!ng persons. Dental records sent to the morgue by the dentists ot missing persons The rest ot Sunday he spent conlerrtng with Gen. Weller, Col. Keith, Rappe and Don Eddy, head ot the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration. to determine the extent of the emergency and prepare a request to Prestdent Ford tor assistance. 1bat letter was transmitted to Wash.lngton at 1:30 p.m. Sunday night and Ford's reply was received In record time by 9 a.m. Monday. Ford declart'd Larimer County as a disaster area due to the flood and ':1',0 b.l.~ed ~ county to ~l1gible for ~ri.ssii....~1, '. L"II'" Sunday evening, Lamm made a~ seeood helicopter U1p to the area.. He admitted that communlcation was one of the most difficult problems in the. ~arly hours of the Dood. Maj. KeMeth Powell of the State Patrol was In charge of the com. munlcatlon center in Denver. He called in extra dispatchers to ald the scaled..oown weekend shift. THE MAIN communications system was handled by a big police unit and the National Guard's unit which were operating by Sunday night, according to Lamm. Ham radio operators helped early ~~ ~~~pe~=G~~p.were By Monday night a dlrectllne had been put in place between the water conservancy district office and the governor for Instant com. munlcation. On Monday, which was a state holiday, 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 thegovemor. Those JXlW1ll'll are quite extensive, according to WhJte, and Include such things as expropriating prtvate property 11 needed to save lives and appropriating funds as he sees fit. Neither of .those powers were used, he said, but the governor did l.ssue 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 officials could go onto private property tor that purpose. Sheriff Watson asked lAmm for the same authority to restore public serviCeS. LARIMER COUNTY com. 'missloners asked the govemor for speelal authority tor debris removal and als.> the legal authority to place lhlt sIx. month moratortum on building In the canyon. La.mm Issued both orders. Although Lamm told the Coloradoan that he has not yet called In all the various people lnvol~ed to make a Critique of the way Ule state reacted, "I'm proud but 1'I0t com. placent about how to run It next time," He said that "the whole civil defense system Is slanted toward nuclear disasters and things like that and It raises the question whether we shouldn't have a lot of additional tra1n1ng 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 unit, which could be used for a command post where the govemor and others could meet and would also house the mobile radio communications center. He added that booster stations for communlcations 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 Inore quickly," Lee said. Wh1Ie all the state ottlclals may not agree about what nee<1s to be =~eei~~ ~~v:~~hoJ"di'=te~~ ~ they all heaped praIse on ShertH Watson tor the way in .....h.Ich he handled the dtsllster. R'efrigerated trucks were loaned to store bodies until identification was mode " also are ,~rded and compared with charts prepared by Morlang on the unlde~~i!<, bodies. . appears to be a tion, ~relatives are contacted and the case, including any j~j1_o/ and a photograph - If the~~~gnlzable. ONbn'AT THIS POINT, when a reJati~18\able to say a picture resembles hIs missing family member, Is a body actually shown. ,"Our" whoJe philosophy all along has been no mass viewing of bodJPB." Olamey sa1d From the begtnnlng this process has been fraught with problems. "Nlnety.five per cent ot the bodies were absolutely naked when they came in." Charney sald. ThJs sttuatlon el1mlnated one method of Identlficatlon. Despite the expertise provided by an FBI team, efforts to Identify bodies by f1ngerprints were sometimes frustrated by married women whose prints were flied Wlder their maiden name. Equipment was also nonexistent tor the first tew days. "FOR'IlIE FIRST three days we didn't have gloves or any' gowns," OIameyadded. He said work began on a couple 01 benches the staff happened to tind 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 bodles Into the refrigerated semi trailers untll a local company built some platforms. Sclun.Idt said obtainlng the trucks for bodies, also was a problem because ot the holiday weekend. The coroner said he started working on It Sunday momIng but the tIrst ones Weren't delivered untU TUesday. There are now seven located behind the old hospital. An adequate X.ray unit .....as another item that was diWcult to obtain at first. FInally a nurse remembered a physician In Loveland who had a portable unlt in stoll\ge and the unit was obtained. "It has helped us 1mmensely," Charney said. In one case, he recalled, a relative said a missing person had had a hip replaced. The X.ray showed the metal prosUletic. Another identification was "made" because of nall polish. An unldenUf1ed woman had a small amount of pollsh 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. tltlcation, according to Dorothy Abbey who Is responsible for its care. (It Is stored at night in a Loveland sate.) Of the first 100 bodies, she said about halfhad jewelry. Even though individual Items such as these tInally might confirm an Identification, the staff never stops at that point. "We never short circuit the ldentltlcation process," Olamey said. "The record should be totaL" The physlclans also declined to take credit for any identification of a specJf1c body, saying only that "we are a team." -JAKE HENSHAW