As the death toll continues to climb at the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, dozens of people are still missing and search and rescue teams are carefully sifting through the rubble of the destroyed residential building.

“It’s a tough job for the guys that are down there,” said Pete Benedetto, co-founder of Capital Technical Rescue (CTR).

CTR specializes in emergency response training in confined spaces.

“We do it with fire departments. We also do it with industrial clients,” he said. “We do classes based on need.”

Benedetto responded to his most trying call for duty nearly 20 years ago, following the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001.

“We worked the first two days, pretty much sleep where you can sleep, and work,” he said.

Benedetto says with the loss of life, comparing tragedies like these is near impossible, but he can’t help but reflect on his past experiences.

“Looking at the pictures, it’s a lot of the same stuff we saw,” he said.

Right now, he says search and rescue crews in Florida are exhausted, physically and emotionally.

“It’s a lot to take in,” he said. “It’s a lot to deal with.”

It’s a situation that we typically don’t see in America, which has left many on edge.

“It’s a lot of training you don’t use, thankfully very often, but when you do use it, you need the guys that have that specific training,” he said.

As work continues in Florida, Benedetto says the work will begin to take its toll.

“The responders are going to need their family’s support and are also going to need the support from their agencies that they’re working with,” he said.