MISSION, Kan. – A group of area firefighters are reflecting on their time in Moore, Okla.
They said they arrived to help just minutes after that May 20 tornado.
The group went as a part of Midwest Search and Rescue, a relatively new non-profit that hopes to help in these devastating situations.
The President of Midwest Search and Rescue Randy Hill is a retired firefighter. He said this was the group’s first mission. Although he said all the firefighters have been through events like this before.
Hill said three firefighters were from the Consolidated Fire District No. 2. There was another firefighter from Johnson County and one more from Salina.
Hill said they helped clear debris and move file cabinets at Briarwood Elementary. He said while they were there, they even helped rescue a dog from under the rubble.
But Hill said the team was then sent to Plaza Towers Elementary. That is where emergency crews pulled the bodies of a handful of children from the debris.
“Anything involving a child is all that much tougher. That I think was the hardest thing, just not knowing every time you pull back a price of debris, what you were going to find,” Hill said.
Lt. Mike Morse with the Consolidated Fire District No. 2 said there was no time to be tired, especially when they were assigned to Plaza Towers.
“It kind of just made us more, made me more determined that is there is something here that if there’s something here were going to find it were not going to leave anything unturned,” Morse said.
Morse said he’ll always have a bag packed and ready to go.
Hill said he started Midwest Search and Rescue a year ago. He said right now, it’s just him and a few other guys, but they’d like to be able to deploy a 14-man crew to help whenever disaster strikes. Hill is also working with several other fire departments.
