ERWIN, Tenn. (WJHL) — It’s day twelve of rescue and recovery efforts in the region, and the Unicoi Co. Search and Rescue Squad said they’re not stopping until the county’s last missing person is found.
“We’re working fine details right now,” said Bart Ray, a member of the group. “But our problem right now is that we run into this swampy area and it’s really wet. There’s water down there three feet deep in places, and you can’t walk in it because you’ll go away. You’ll go to your knees.”
The bodies of the five other previously missing Impact Plastics Employees were found in an area between Exit 37 and 40 on Interstate 26, Ray said. The debris field is about ¾ of a mile away from the plant.
“That area is approximately a hundred yards long. It’s probably about eighty to ninety yards deep. And there’s places that it’s about 30, 35 feet deep. And not only the debris on the bottom of that, this is a swampy area originally,” Ray said. “So all the debris settles in this area. So it’s really, really hard because you can’t take a machine in there. We actually sunk a National Guard excavator yesterday (Monday).”
Eight people, including other employees from Impact Plastics and two National Guardsmen, were rescued from that area via Black Hawk the Friday the flooding took place.
“We had a huge debris field in here and they were standing on it and they flew them over to this side. So there’s eight people that, you know, they’re leaving today because of that helicopter. There’s no doubt,” Ray said.
“The river at this point, it went from that side to that side. I mean, it’s three-eighths of a mile wide and there’s just not a whole lot you can do. Even if you had a boat crew.”
The Impact Plastics employees who were found dead, and the one still missing, were reportedly last seen on a semi-truck.
“We tried to figure out some numbers, how many were on that tractor and trailer, flatbed that day. So several of us were able to talk to some of those people that were on there that we had flew over,” Ray said. “And the information they gave us was very vital to giving us the number count on how many people we were looking to do recovery for.”
Ray said he tried to get to the truck on that Sept. 27 afternoon, but it kept getting lost in the floodwaters.
“The next time we encountered anything from the semi if you see the yellow pipe, there are these large black holes of probably gas pipe that came this way. They make for the manufacturing down here. There were people actually floating on those coils of pipe. So we just kept staying with them, staying with them, and eventually, we lost them because of the trees.”
And now, Ray said he thinks they’re close to finding the final person.
“Based on what we saw as far as water flows, the hydraulics of water, we’re talking about that we talk about any pools. We talk about the path of least resistance as far as water. So once we put all that together, we also have some Facetime videos that people were using, some of the people on the trailers. And we went back and looked at that. We looked at the water flows.”
Ray says a lot of planning and mapping out happens before, during and after the crew goes out.
“Every day since this event started, I mean, our people have been on the ground trying to work, trying to put things together, trying to figure things out,” he said. “There are some equations we talk about probability. And so far, we’ve been very successful on doing recovery. This is it’s a very hard process.”
The volunteer group of about 15 people says they won’t stop until the last missing person is recovered.
“I’ve done my volunteer job in this county over 21 years. Any time I’m given a task in this county, it always becomes personal, whether I know that person or not, whether they’re local or they’re someone that’s traveling through here,” said Ray. “We are a 501c3 nonprofit. So everything we get, we have to ask for whether it be county government, city government you know, we get some donations throughout the year, but our budget is really, really small considering the work we do.”
Another big help came in the form of a K-9 from Greene County. Ruger is a German Shepherd Malinois mix. He specializes in human remains detection.
“He’s had a very good career. And not to get into details, but he has been very successful since he’s been here,” said his handler, Wayne Wilhoit. “He’s finding things to help with this search that places where humans wouldn’t be looking because their nose is so good.”
This search isn’t the only one he’s been successful on.
“He’s the dog that found the homicide victim in the freezer in Carter County back in May,” Wilhoit said. “He searched 17 acres up there and found him buried in a freezer.”
The search has been tough on K-9 Ruger, too.
“About three days ago, we thought he broke his leg,” Wilhoit said. “He’s had some exposures to certain things that have floated downriver. He’s medicated, and I think he’s going to be fine.”
There is debris cleanup going on that has been especially difficult, with piles as large as 30 feet tall in that area–with many of the items traveling more than a mile from the Industrial Park.
“The debris is just a tactical nightmare,” said Unicoi Co. Emergency Management Agency Director Jimmy Erwin. “The safety for the rescuers that are searching. They just have to be so slow and tedious, not to get hurt. You’ll see more debris removal. We’ll still have to have eyes watching as we remove the debris to make sure that there’s nothing else that we don’t know of in here. The state will come in and do debris removal. And at that time, we’ll start working with other companies to remove the debris.”
But once recovery is complete, clean-up will be in full swing.
“You name it, we’ve seen it in these piles. Once they’re pulling it apart and down, piling back up, another truck will have to come in here and separate all the plastic,” Erwin said. “All the woods will be separated, all the metal separated. Any natural debris that can be hauled off and burned will be hauled off and burned.”
