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GREENSBURG, Kan. — No one was immune from the devastation caused by a massive tornado that ravaged a small Kansas town Friday – not least the Greensburg Fire Department.
Its headquarters was reduced to rubble, with engines and equipment left covered with debris.
Now, neighboring departments are rallying together to try to help the volunteer organization recover.
The Wichita Fire Department is already planning talks with its city officials about handing over equipment.
Wichita firefighters were among the first to begin search and rescue efforts in the town, where 10 people died.
Wichita Fire Captain Billy Wenzel said seeing the Greensburg department in ruins had a particularly big impact.
“It was just amazing,” he said. “We talked to the fire chief there, he was still pretty shook up. Basically, they had virtually lost everything.”
Wenzel said his department has several engines in reserve status, and talks are planned with Wichita city officials about handing them over to Greensburg.
The only thing the Greensburg department could salvage, said Wenzel, was a small amount of personal protective equipment.
Wichita firefighters have scaled down their work in the town after national urban search and rescue teams were sent in.
But their initial efforts have provided invaluable support.
With most street signs demolished by the tornado, Wichita Deputy Chief of Operations Mike Rudd coordinated members to spray-paint road names on anything that was left standing in the southwest part of the town.
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With resources scarce, it was a laborious process as the entire team only had one map between them on which to work from.
“It was one of the things we needed to do to regain order,” Wenzel said. “By marking the streets, it means everyone coming in is working on the same page.”
In addition, crews also corrected the well-intentioned efforts of residents to help rescuers.
Many scrawled markings on homes to show if they were vacant or occupied, but Wenzel said many of the symbols were hard to determine and did not match standard marking systems.
With search and rescue operations continuing Tuesday, emergency responders are reportedly struggling to determine if any of its 1,600 residents are still missing because so many are staying with friends or relatives rather than in shelters.
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President Bush is due to tour the damage on Wednesday.
The last day anyone was found alive in the wreckage of the town was late Sunday evening, two days after the mile-wide tornado ravaged the town.
Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management, told the Associated Press it was amazing there were not more deaths.
“You really can’t look in any direction without seeing destruction, without seeing houses that are demolished, piles of rubble,” she said.