SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Arthur Gonsalves remembers it like it was yesterday: the Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building in ruins.
"It's overwhelming. I imagine, if someone was in the military, it would remind them of war," said Gonsalves.
The bombing happened back in 1995 on April 19, killing 168 people and injuring 853 others. According to Office for Victims of Crime, it left 1/3 of the building in ruins and damaged 324 surrounding buildings.
Gonsalves served on the Sacramento Metro Fire Urban Search and Rescue Team at the time. His crew flew on a military cargo plane out of Travis Air Force Base and arrived on the night of the explosion.
"We're used to seeing one building or three or four buildings burned down or destroyed, but, to see a building of that size, you just normally think of it as immovable," he said. "And, to see half of it gone and laying on the ground was just devastating."
His job was a grisly one: search for victims in the rubble of the bombed out building.
"We didn't find anybody alive let's put it that way," he said.
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His deployment lasted 10 days and left an indelible mark on his career, his being and his soul.
"I think, for me, it's the appreciation, and most of it the appreciation of life. I mean you think about that one act - for whatever reason he [the bomber] did it. That one act caused so much pain, and pain that goes on... for families that lost relatives, lost children. [They] are thinking about it today and are thinking about it quite often," said Gonsalves.
Gonsalves spent 31 years in fire service, including 10 years with search and rescue. During his career, he was also deployed to the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center.
He says while New York was on a much larger scale, the impact on him was the same.
"You just have to appreciate life," Gonsalves said. "I mean the suffering they went through is just unbelievable."
His son, Brian Gonsalves, ultimately followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a fire captain and part of the same Urban Search and Rescue Task Force team.
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