By Rachel Holly
The Standard-Speaker
HAZELTON, Pa. — When it comes to giving aid in the wake of tragedy, for almost all firefighters that’s simply just part of the job.
When massive flooding hit Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after more than 30 inches of rainfall deluged the region — even though the greater Hazleton area is almost 1,900 miles away — local firefighters knew something had to be done.
“We got a text from a friend of ours, a Hazleton native, who is now a fire chief in the St. George Parish,” Capt. Tony Columbo of the West Hazleton Fire Department said. That parish — the term in Louisiana equivalent to county — is slightly south of the Baton Rouge capital, where residents watched floodwaters akin to Hurricane Katrina completely engulf entire neighborhoods.
“We are in the middle of a record flood ... we have more people who lost everything than we did during Hurricane Katrina,” the text from Fire Chief Jack Jones read. “This wasn’t like a hurricane where people had advanced notice, this hit out of nowhere.”
“What I am asking is if the fire chiefs of my hometown will help me and see if any donations can be found up there,” he added. “I didn’t ask for help during [Hurricanes] Katrina, Rita, or Gustav but I need it now.”
Tasked with a desperate plea for help, the local fire companies organized a plan.
“Well, McAdoo and Hazle Township started to put a few things together, then so did we, but it all just kind of snowballed,” Columbo said. “It went from a pebble to an iceberg.”
The West Hazleton Fire Department spearheaded the donation fundraiser, enlisting the help of many local businesses to gather as many goods as the can for the victims.
“The folks at A&S Kinard Trucking ... without their help, none of this would even be possible,” Fire Chief Shawn Evans said. “They donated an entire tractor, the trailer, and a driver who is donating his time to drive the donations down to Baton Rouge.”
In addition, Berger Family Dealerships donated a pickup truck to assist in the donation pickup process for larger items. Now, all the crew needed to do was fill the truck.
Saturday and Sunday, the West Hazleton crew set up shop in the parking lot of Big Lots and Michaels — and the response was simply overwhelming.
“We have a 25-foot by 25-foot room, as well as three jail cells, and they are completely filled,” Evans said. “Yesterday, despite the heat, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. it was non-stop.”
Not only was the turnout unbelievable, so were the bounds of people’s generosity.
“We had a guy yesterday who went to Walmart, he had to have spent multiple hundreds of dollars,” Columbo said. “He unloaded an entire truck full of brand new stuff, it was incredible.”
On Sunday, the parking lot was a steady stream of donations as well — people funneling in with any item one could imagine to help the victims of the flooding.
“I saw on television that this was happening, and I know the flood was very severe,” Betty Bubrowski of Drums said. “I wanted to give to those in need.”
Locals aren’t stopping there — with West Hazleton Fire accepting donations up until Friday, many are going back for multiple rounds.
“This was just what I could drum up between last night and today,” Deborah Lehman of West Hazleton said. “Once I get home, I’ll be able to gather even more things for them.”
Above all else, the West Hazleton Fire Department describes the experience as “overwhelmingly humbling.”
“Yesterday, our truck was three-quarters full by the end of the day, so we went to Penske Trucking and said ‘we need another truck.’ I bet by the end of today, that one will be full too,” Columbo said. “When you put out the call in this town, people answer it.”
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