Haiti heroes return

By lboardman lisa boardman lisa.boardman@essnmedia.co.uk

A firefighter who helped the rescue efforts in disaster-struck Haiti has described the "distress and desperation" of the survivors.

Rob Negus, one of six firefighters from Horley's Technical Rescue Unit, was sent to the region to search for survivors following the earthquake on Tuesday, January 12, which decimated the Caribbean country claiming more than 150,000 lives.

He said: "It was shocking. People are in complete distress and desperation. You could smell death – the smell was everywhere."

The 36-year-old flew back from the disaster zone to Gatwick on Friday along with colleagues station manager St John Stanley, crew manager Chris Kemp, and firefighters Peter Thorpe-Hinks, Brian Vincent and Mick Lewin.

The six men from the station on Povey Cross Road joined a team of 58 UK firefighters, two search dogs and 12 tonnes of equipment in the rescue mission.

Firefighter Negus said: "At first it was so hard to get into the country – the infrastructure was gone and there was damage to everything.

"We were delayed in getting our equipment but once we set up camp we started working hard.

"It was complete mayhem in what is a very heavily populated area that has a lot of problems anyway."

Mr Negas, who has been a firefighter for 13 years, said he had never before seen such desperation.

He said: "Two of us and one of the dogs went to a woman's house which had completely collapsed. She was in complete shock – you could see it in her eyes.

"We knew her son was dead but she wouldn't accept it. She said: "He was playing here' and pointed to slabs of concrete.

"There were no signs of life in there and we were only able to attend the places where people could still be heard. That got to me a bit because there was nothing we could do."

Mr Negus said although the violence and gang culture was evident, he did not feel threatened.

He added: "There was a 9,000 strong United Nations force there and plenty of safe areas – I never experienced any hostility.

"I was just proud to be part of a team which helped so many people. This is one of the reasons why I do the job I do."