The department's Urban Search and Rescue unit who extricated the woman train for situations such as building collapses and none of the tactics used Wednesday were improvised, Simmons said.

NPR: Rescuers Free Woman Wedged Between 2 Buildings

Last year it launched a search-and-rescue unit, Borstar, to criss-cross the region looking for immigrants in trouble.

ECONOMIST: Illegal immigration: Worth dying for | The