Rescue Team Returns Home After Month-Long Recovery Work at Surfside Collapse Site

Search, rescue, and recovery efforts formally ended at the site of a partial building collapse in Surfside, Florida, almost a month after the June 24 catastrophe that killed at least 97 people.

Footage shared by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) on July 23 shows members of the Urban Search and Rescue Florida Task Force 1 (FL-TF1) returning home to applause and embraces from loved ones in Doral. Members of this specialized team had worked for weeks trying to reach survivors and, inevitably, working to recover bodies.

“We’re proud and thankful for our task force team and their tireless work in bringing closure for the families,” MDFR wrote on Twitter.

“You have shown the world what superheroes look like,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “Every day, your tenacity, your passion, your dedication, your refusal to give up, kept the hope of those families alive.” Credit: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue via Storyful