About 200 search personnel, many wearing rain gear and hard
hats, painstakingly combed through the disaster zone under
cloudy skies on Wednesday, taking advantage of a break from
Tuesday's rain showers to hasten their search for more victims.
White markers were placed at the edge of the gouged slope to
help in detecting any further shifting of the hillside.
Snohomish County Battalion Fire Chief Steve Mason, directing
part of the operation, said teams were making slow but steady
progress in locating additional remains.
"There are finds going on continually. They are finding
people now," he told reporters visiting the search site. "People
are under logs, mixed in. It's a slow process."
But Jan McClelland, a volunteer firefighter from Darrington
who was among the first to arrive at the scene and has spent
long days digging through the thick gray muck, conceded it was
possible some bodies may end up forever entombed at the site.
"I'm fearful we won't find everyone," she said. "That's the
reality of it."