One look at their faces, and it doesn't take long to figure out who's heading toward the pile of rubble – and who’s leaving at the end of a long and heartbreaking shift.

Chaplains walk the same route as the search crews, and they try to stand out. Murphy Hanley is one of them. He’s a volunteer chaplain with Polk County Fire Rescue who came down to Surfside to help.

“The call came out that they needed more chaplains, so we’re down here to give emotional support to the crews and to help out the chaplains here with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue,” Chaplain Hanley said. “It’s not a surprise that we’re needed. I actually was sitting at home on Thursday morning watching a story on the news about this, and I said to my wife — I said if they ask me to come, I’d go in a heartbeat”

He's teaming up with other chaplains, like Forest Willis from Davie Fire Rescue. 

“We call it the ministry of presence. So we go out and talk to the firefighters, the responders. We see if they would like to talk to us. We see if there’s anything on their mind. If there’s somebody we feel like the Holy Spirit wants us to talk to, we’ll go up to that person,” Chaplain Willis said.

The presence of these faith leaders is part of the effort by fire departments and law enforcement agencies to put an emphasis on mental health. And these chaplains are only asking for one thing in return — prayer. 

“I don’t know how people get through something like this without praying. Without having that connection between themselves and God,” Hanley said.