Copyright 2005 Journal Sentinel Inc.
By DON BEHM
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Semitrailer trucks in Mequon and Kohlsville are slowly filling with firefighting hoses, breathing masks, coolers, baby strollers, non-perishable food and children’s toys to be shipped to waiting fire departments, volunteer firefighters and their families in hurricane-ravaged Hancock County, Miss.
Fire departments in Ozaukee and Washington counties are temporarily adopting 300 firefighters and emergency medical technicians in the Gulf Coast county as part of a firefighter-to-firefighter relief effort organized by the Badger Firemen Association, said Mequon Fire Chief Jim Wucherer. Fire departments in Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and Dodge counties that are members of the association also are participating.
Their counterparts in Hancock County lost just about everything - buildings, trucks and gear - to late August’s Hurricane Katrina and the tornadoes that it spawned, Wucherer said.
“My hat is off to them,” he said. “Many of them don’t have regular jobs even now, but they’re hanging in there. Some are living in tents, using barbecue grills to cook their food.”
The firefighting gear will help them contain future emergencies, but other supplies, too, are needed to help the volunteers sustain their families in the months ahead, Wucherer said.
The Mississippi fire commissioner’s office recommended that the association target Hancock County because of the widespread and severe damage, he said. Wucherer and other chiefs in this region of Wisconsin also know chiefs in volunteer fire departments there. The selection was not made because Kiln, Brett Favre’s hometown, is in southern Hancock County about seven miles from the gulf, Wucherer said.
“A lot of these families haven’t had a paycheck since August, so Christmas is going to be pretty bleak,” said Ron Naab, a member of the Allenton Fire Department and vice president of the Badger Firemen.
“So we’re asking for toys, puzzles, books and games to make their children’s Christmas a little brighter,” he said.
For the firefighters’ families, the association is asking for public donations of aluminum foil for grill cooking, coolers for storing food, stocking caps, hot chocolate, apple sauce, toys and games, toiletries, cleaning supplies and money that could be used to buy retail gift cards, he said. Accounts for the collection have been set up at M&I Bank, Ozaukee Bank and West Bend Savings Bank outlets in the region.
Last Saturday, firefighters from Boltonville and other Washington County departments delivered more than a dozen 100-foot fire hoses, exhaust fans for venting smoke from buildings, a compressor for filling air canisters, and 100 sets of turn-out gear - coats, helmets, pants and boots - to the trailer in Kohlsville, Naab said.
Donations stacking up
The Mequon trailer contains used hoses of varying diameters, as well as jackets for EMTs, stretchers and 16 sets of the so-called self-contained breathing apparatus, which is a face mask with air tank and harness. Boxes of donated clothing and other items are stacked in the Mequon department’s main building on Buntrock Ave.
The first trailer probably will be driven to Mississippi before Thanksgiving, and the second should arrive there in early December, Wucherer said.
Nearly three months after Hurricane Katrina flooded and blew apart communities along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, volunteer fire departments in the coastal counties are still gathering the vehicles and equipment that they need to respond to new emergencies, said Tom Bartlett, interim Hancock County fire coordinator.
“We had a 30-foot storm surge from the gulf that came in as far as I-10, about 7 to 8 miles inland,” Bartlett said. Hurricane winds and tornadoes destroyed vehicles, homes, businesses and government buildings much farther inland.
“As this thing came through, it put a wallop on the coastal counties,” he said. “We lost a significant amount of fire equipment and fire stations. Some fire stations were washed away entirely, leaving only a concrete slab or foundation behind.”
Hancock County still needs at least one pumper truck and a few tanker trucks, Bartlett said, as emergencies did not stop when the winds subsided.
Wildfires feared
“With the destruction we’ve had down here, there’s a huge amount of debris that was piled up in the storm surge,” or stacked up later in cleanup activities, he said. “Currently, there is a ban on burning in the county.
“And when the storm surge contacted pine trees, the salt water also killed the trees in woods along the coast,” he said. “So, we are facing the possibility of wildfires.
“The donated vehicles and equipment that goes with them fill a very critical role between getting our fire departments up and running and the time that they can buy new vehicles and equipment with their insurance,” Bartlett said.
“We’re on the road to recovery.”
To donate
Accounts for donations have been set up at M&I Bank, Ozaukee Bank and West Bend Savings Bank outlets in the region, or contact your local fire department. The Mequon Fire Department will accept non-perishable food and other items at its 11300 N. Buntrock Ave. office from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.