Citizen rescue volunteer: How can I sit at home? Man wades into debris of Oso mudslide to look for survivors, victims

In the massive Oso mudslide debris field there is an odd silence. The silence is broken by the bark of search dogs or the din of hovercraft in the distance. Occasionally a helicopter will fly in to hoist out another victim.

Amid the towering piles of wreckage was Iraq war veteran and local youth football coach Matt Pater.

There are kids in here, he said, as he ripped pieces of homes and destroyed lives from the pile, searching desperately for survivors or victims.

"You know that's everything they owned. You're walking on it to try to find them," he said.

Pater hiked through the woods, around Washington State Patrol roadblocks, to get to the scene. He said he just couldn't sit at home.

During a press conference on Tuesday, an official warned residents against becoming "freelance" rescue volunteers because of the danger of the shifting pile of debris. Some local Darrington residents with skills in logging and operating heavy equipment are being brought into the official rescue operation.

Despite the warning, people like Pater were still trying to figure out ways to get to the scene to help.

Some of the young football players he coached lived in homes destroyed by the massive mudslide that overtook a community like a towering wall of mud, trees, cars and houses.

Serving his country in Iraq as a member of the U.S. Army, Pater saw devastation and death. He figured his experience there would help him deal with the devastation near Oso. And the devastation is real, horrible, raw and almost unimaginable.

The hillside that slid down upon his friends and neighbors was off in the distance. It is a stunning length that the mud and debris field traveled, ending in a field behind the home of Don and Elaine Young. The slide reminds those that visit the scene just how small we really are.

In the video above, Pater searches and talks about the devastation brought upon his community.

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