MACON, Ga. — Twin brothers Lonnie and Ronnie Miley have worked at the Bibb County Coroner's Office for more than 30 years -- but their training has taken them worldwide and landed them a spot on a national response team.
“We are actually a couple of the original members of the Disaster Mortuary Team,” said Ronnie.
That team was a part of the rescue and recovery efforts in New York after 9/11 and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
They say the disaster in Surfside, Florida is similar.
“When you look at a disaster in a building fall, it sort of brings back memories of what it's like to watch buildings fall down and people lose their lives,” said Ronnie.
The brothers say there are two important steps when working a disaster. First is rescue, then recovery.
“They'll rescue the people, if they're alive, you tried to recover the bodies. But, you also try to preserve evidence called that is very important to determine and what happened,” said Lonnie.
When it comes to identifying remains in these situations -- Ronnie says it can sometimes be a challenge.
In 2001, Ronnie says one of the most important parts was identifying people.
“Was getting DNA and anything from families, because in actuality, they were very few whole human remains recovered,” said Ronnie.
The brothers say working with dangerous materials, chemicals and smoke -- along with the other tasks -- took a mental and physical toll on them.
“All of these people was living, and living their lives. But now, with this disaster, they are gone in just a flash. So, you think about that, when you are recovering and when you're going into places, and you are pulling people out,” said Lonnie.
After all these years in the field, and speaking with family members of victims, Lonnie says death is not easy to deal with.
“Hold your loved ones close and love them while they're here cause you never ever know when it may be your last time to tell someone you love them,” said Lonnie.