LA County search and rescue team returns from Venezuela after deadly earthquakes

A search and rescue team from the Los Angeles County Fire Department is returning to the United States after helping crews locate victims of the twin earthquakes in Venezuela.

The fire department deployed the team shortly after the earthquake struck the South American country on June 24. The team, dubbed USA 2, consisted of 71 personnel, six canine teams and 84,000 pounds of specialized rescue equipment. 

"We're no strangers to earthquakes here in Los Angeles County, and we have to be prepared," Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said nearly two weeks ago. "Having this international search and rescue team and members with this experience is going to help us when we suffer our own earthquakes."

Going into the Fourth of July weekend, the death toll stood at about 2,600, with tens of thousands of people still missing as crews sifted through the rubble nearly two weeks after the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 destroyed buildings throughout Venezuela. 

As first reported by the New York Times, the LA County team helped save three children, one as young as 9 years old, from a collapsed building. 

"Undoubtedly, you go through these buildings, it's really unfortunate, and one of the hardest tolls taken on our people is that they go through and it ends up being a body recovery," LA County Fire Capt. Aaron Katon said on July 1.  "You find these void spaces, and they see things that no one would ever want to see, and you see them in large quantity. But it's part of what we do."

The LA County firefighters joined several other teams from across the United States, including Virginia and Florida.