The vice chair of the Nassau Technical Rescue Advisory Committee says the type of collapse that happened in Florida will make for a slow and challenging rescue operation.

"Not only do they have to stabilize the building that's there they have to conduct their searches," says vice chair Frank Scobbo. "And in that kind of a collapse, a pancake collapse with one floor on top of another, it makes void search extremely difficult."

The Nassau Technical Rescue Advisory Committee is a group that includes several different fire departments including Port Washington.

Early on Thursday a wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed with a roar in a town outside Miami, killing at least one person and trapping residents in rubble and twisted metal. Rescuers pulled out dozens of survivors and continued to look for more.

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Officials in Florida say the building is no longer structurally sound. The cause of the collapse is unclear.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett says he's never seen anything like it.