VOLUNTEERS LOOK BACK ON WEEK; ABILITY TO HELP EASES PAIN.

Byline: David Greenberg and Krystn Shrieve Staff Writers

PORT HUENEME - When Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed last Monday off Anacapa, it also tore through the daily routines of the rescuers, counselors and volunteers who didn't hesitate to lend a hand. Looking back on the week, those who searched the water, counseled the grieving and made sure everyone was fed recount their efforts during the worst disaster in recent local history.

SALVATION ARMY volunteer Tom McSherry worked 12- to 14-hour days beginning Monday afternoon, when Flight 261 fell from the sky.

As disaster services coordinator for the Western portion of the United States, McSherry helped with the Salvation Army's three canteens - set up on the pier, near the temporary morgue and at the command post - to feed the search-and-recovery crews at Port Hueneme.

``It's been physically very demanding and at times emotionally depressing, but always so rewarding,'' said McSherry, involved in disaster relief for 20 years.

``Everyone is very respectful of the situation. We've seen a lot of sadness, but there was also a feeling of accomplishment when they brought in the data recorder and voice recorder. There wasn't like there was any cheering, but you could just tell people felt good when the mission was accomplished.''

The volunteers served burgers, bottled water and sodas to the crews, and lent an ear or gave words of encouragement.

``We listen and encourage them and make sure they understand that they're making a difference for the family members of the victims. They work so hard, sometimes we have to gently remind them to take care of themselves,'' McSherry said. ``But that's just part of the cooperative working spirit that everyone has created out here.''

VENTURA COUNTY Sheriff's Department helicopter pilots responded within minutes of the crash, and they patrolled the coastline for debris as the week wore on.

Pilot Mike Mason strained to see survivors as his helicopter flew about 200 feet above the ocean's surface, but instead saw nothing but an oil slick and debris.

``Sometimes everything blends together, and you're not sure what you're looking at,'' Mason said. ``We dipped down low several times because we thought we saw what could have been people. But it wasn't what we thought. It was usually luggage or pieces of insulation.

``It's disappointing,'' Mason said. ``But my big concern is the heartbreak of the families of victims. The families are always in the back of my mind. My heart goes out to them.''

Crew member Greg Chase, in another helicopter, said it was frustrating when no survivors were found.

``Your main thought is finding someone you can yank out of the water and bring to safety. It's frustrating for everyone, because we wish there was more we can do.

``We're trained to rescue,'' he said, ``but there wasn't anything we could do out there.''

MAXINE SMITH, a Red Cross volunteer from Simi Valley, said she was physically exhausted by the end of the week.

``We're here sometimes at 6 a.m. and sometimes until midnight. The first four days it was busy all night, but now it's starting to calm down a little.''

Smith, a Red Cross volunteer since the 1980s, said it's been difficult to watch as crews brought in debris scooped out of the water.

``I've seen pieces of debris, and I've also seen bags,'' Smith said. ``I'm not interested to know what's in the bags. I tell myself it must just be seaweed. I know it's not, because the coroners don't need to be looking in bags of seaweed, but I just have to tell myself that's what it is. It's seaweed.''

ROBERT T. SCOTT spent most of last week tending to the mental health of the passengers' families - a psychological lifeguard of sorts, someone who watches over people and jumps in only when necessary.

The Los Angeles-based disaster psychologist is part of the Red Cross' Disaster Response Network of mental health professionals.

``Our function is a very special one,'' Scott said. ``What we've learned over the years is that people will go through a process, and our role is not to get in their face and try to make it better, but to just stand back and let it happen.''

``We provide the safety and security so that the normal process can happen. We're like lifeguards. A lifeguard can sit in a tower and may not take any action all day, but he's watching and he's there if you need him.''

That role was important to play, Scott said, on Thursday when family members took to the beach to say goodbye to their loved ones.

``On the beach we were there, just standing back,'' Scott said of the Red Cross workers. ``We were there to safeguard them if someone walked off alone or got lost emotionally.''

They watched as family members inscribed names in the sand, set up memorials, cried and prayed.

``It was painful to see them trying to make peace, trying to say goodbye,'' Scott said. ``It's a natural human response - when other people are hurting you feel for them and it reminds you how fragile life is. It reminds us of our own mortality.''

TOWARD THE END of a candlelight vigil for the crash victims of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 on Thursday evening, organizer Kim Gunter said she drifted away from the community she had invited to come.

Standing alone by a makeshift flower memorial adjacent to Port Hueneme Pier, the 47-year-old dental hygenist gained a sense of closure she had longed for in the wake of 88 lives lost just nine miles off the beach.

``I spent a lot of quiet time by myself at the memorial, just reflecting on the people who died and my own life and my own relationships with people I love,'' Gunter said. ``It makes me confident that I'll have a little bit different approach to life from now on.

``Being around a lot of people who were suffering like I was lets me know that, yes, it really happened and now, for the rest of us, we need to go on with the rest of our lives and do the best with the time that we have left on Earth.''

More than 500 people attended the three-hour vigil - most only learning of her plans the day before. Gunter herself never organized a memorial of any kind before.

But with Monday's tragedy so close to home, she said many people in and around this usually jovial beach community were confronted with emotions they are not often forced to deal with.

``It really took on a life of its own and the people responded with compassion and caring,'' Gunter said. ``I had many people approach me at the vigil who said, thank you for doing this. I just felt such a need for participating in something like this. It tells me that people everywhere - but especially in Port Hueneme - have a lot of feeling of community toward the entire world.''