Beach firefighter's French is a lifesaver in Haiti

Micheline Hiltibran and her husband spoke French to their children when they were little, but their son Mark, a Virginia Beach firefighter, isn't fluent in her native tongue.

"He can get by," she said Wednesday.

Getting by apparently was enough for him to make a major contribution to a local group's rescue of two Haitian children Tuesday from their collapsed Port-au-Prince home, a week after a massive earthquake.

Hiltibran is a logistics specialist with Virginia Task Force Two, a Beach-based urban search-and-rescue team that arrived Friday night in Haiti.

Sunday, working alongside a similar group from New York at the collapsed U.N. mission headquarters in Port-au-Prince, the team rescued a Danish civil affairs officer.

On Monday and Tuesday, according to Leon Dextradeur, a task force planning chief, the team did not find any survivors. Members were on their way back to camp Tuesday after a day of searching when local police flagged them down.

The officers led them down a few back alleys to the ruins of a three-story house, Dextradeur said, where they used specialized equipment to confirm people were trapped.

While other team members put to work their expertise in structural engineering and debris removal, Hiltibran provided the human connection, chatting in French with the 10-year-old girl and her 8-year-old brother.

Dextradeur, a Virginia Beach Fire Department battalion chief in close contact with team leaders on the ground in Haiti, said the rescue took about 3-1/2 hours.

Video of the rescue shows the boy grinning, his arms opened wide, his rescuers clapping.

Micheline Hiltibran, a native of France who married a U.S. soldier and now lives in Virginia Beach, said Mark, 43, didn't show too much interest in French as a kid. He studied it some in school, but in recent years, she said, he made an effort to polish his skills.

"I'm glad that his French is good for something," she said.

Hiltibran's wife, Mayumi, said she talked to her husband briefly Wednesday. He didn't tell her much about the rescue, she said, except to check it out on YouTube. The team also is updating its Facebook page with photos and video.

According to news reports, the children were treated for dehydration at a medical camp, then reunited with their parents.

The family's joy was tempered with sadness: A third child trapped in the collapsed house didn't survive.

Dextradeur said the 80 task force members are based out of the capital city's airport. They took enough provisions and supplies to last 10 days without a resupply, but they have gotten additional food, he said.

He did not know when they would return.

"They're tired of the ground shaking, but their spirits are high, especially with them making rescues," Dextradeur said.

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com