Eastern Iowa fire fighters help with recovery effort in Joplin

NEW SHARON – Joplin is a long drive from South Eastern Iowa, but fire fighters from three departments – New Sharon, Oskaloosa, and Montezuma made the trip.

This wasn't the first time these fire fighters have responded to national natural disasters.

They've responded to a handful of disasters -  from Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana to ice storms in Carroll, Iowa and the EF-5 tornado that ripped through Parkersburg.

They responded to all these disasters at a moment's notice.

“You go from not knowing to limbo to we've got to go,” said New Sharon Fire Chief Steve Gerard.  Gerard has organized the majority of the trips for the local departments for the last several years.

Their trip to Joplin put them at the heart of the tornadoes destruction doing emotionally and physically taxing work.

“Steve called me he said we'd be doing body recovery, with the help of dogs, which was a very interesting experience,” said Oskaloosa Fire Chief Mark Neff.

Over a period of 5 days, the fire fighters from New Sharon, Oskaloosa and Montezuma worked with K-9 units to help recover those killed by the massive EF-5 tornado that tore through Joplin two weeks ago.

They stayed in dorms at South Western Missouri State, but both fire chiefs say they weren't living the college life.  Rising at five in the morning and working in 90 degree heat, the fire fighters searched through debris, checked homes, and three story apartment buildings for those killed by the tornado.

“There were vehicles down there rolled into a ball,” Gerard said, “you couldn't even tell what they were from a distance, and you didn't know if people were in them or not.”

Responding to these disasters is an incredible undertaking since the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not cover the cost for extra first responders.  It can cost the fire departments a few thousand dollars every time they answer a call for aid, but both chiefs say it's worth the money gaining a wealth of knowledge for the future should their towns ever face the same destruction.

“These guys here all know we maybe next, and we're going to need help.”