By Brian Anderson
Valley Times

Sept. 11, 2001

OAKLAND — A group of 62 Oakland firefighters and paramedics making up an elite search and rescue group could travel to the East Coast as early as today to assist in victim recovery efforts, fire officials said.

As news of the collapse of New York's World Trade Center towers spread west, federal emergency officials asked the Oakland Fire Department to scramble its team of rescuers and prepare to fly east. As of noon today, fire officials said four of eight teams based in California will fly via U.S. Air Force jets, possibly from Travis Air Force Base, to New York or Washington to help with fallout from Tuesday morning's terrorist attacks, said Deputy Fire Chief Ron Carter.

Oakland's Urban Search and Rescue Unit is one of 26 nationwide, and has been dispatched to disasters ranging from the Northridge earthquake to areas ravaged by El Niņo flooding. It is almost certain the unit, which has been operational about 10 years, will be called in to help, Carter said.

The rescue units work on a rotation for disasters and take turns being on call, Carter said. He added, however, that some units are taken off the rotation at times for varying reasons, making decisions about who travels to the next disaster not as simple as who is next on the list.

Other California areas hosting search and rescue units include Menlo Park, Los Angeles city and county, Orange County, Riverside, San Diego and Sacramento.

Federal, state, county and local officials closed government buildings in and around downtown Oakland Tuesday morning. Signs informing the public of meeting cancellations rested behind locked, and in some cases, barricaded doors citing the "national crisis" in the East.

Oakland police and armed U.S. Marshal's Service agents dressed in black clothing and flack jackets circled the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building at 1301 Clay St. about 9:30 a.m. Traffic was rerouted for two blocks around as members of the Alameda County Bomb Squad sat nearby in the unit's tactical truck.

"This is the second day of infamy," police Chief Richard Word said before meeting with city officials about how to handle the crisis. "This is it."

City leaders called on residents to remain calm as citizens reacted to the news of the attacks with shock.

Three men in a car hoisting an American flag cruised Broadway in Oakland, honking a horn, yelling and punching their fists in the air. Other motorists joined in the impromptu parade of support.

At De Lauer's Super Newsstand, customers had been asking clerk Roop Basra all morning whether newspapers with updated information had been delivered.

"They're very interested," Basra said. "It's a bad thing happening. It's not good, all those people being killed."

News of the morning's events blared from a radio in the S & A Market that sits kitty corner from the federal building. Clerk Hassan Allawe said the attack proves that anything can happen - even in the United States.

"You sure don't want to see stuff like that happen," he said.

Lunchtime crowds were much lighter than usual in the City Center shopping complex across from the federal buildings. Many of the restaurants and stores -- including McDonald's and Starbucks -- were shuttered for the day.

Yellow police tape blocked the crosswalk leading from the center to the federal building.

Crowds were also sparse at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall. Most of the city workers were told to go home for the day after the building closed due to its proximity to the federal and state buildings, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown said.

"While it certainly isn't business as usual, it's not a time to panic," Brown said. "It's a time to use some common sense."