Posted by Yolanda Jones (165.247.13.205) on September 19, 2001 at 12:33:17:
Memphians rushed to 'brothers' in need
By Yolanda Jones
yojones@gomemphis.com
Their boots are still covered in soot.
After two days of working knee deep in the twisted remains of
the World Trade Center, three Memphis firefighter-paramedics
returned home Sunday, exhausted physically and emotionally.
Dewayne Cecil, Drew Hart and Rob Yahn say they went to help
because they couldn't stay home.
"I feel so guilty," said Yahn, 31. "I mean we get to return to some
sort of semi-normalcy in our lives.
"But we saw our fellow brother firefighters being pulled out of
this rubble and that's why we went to New York, because how
could we not help?"
The three friends loaded their firefighter-paramedic gear and
sleeping bags into Cecil's sport-utility vehicle Tuesday afternoon
and drove some 15 hours to New York.
When the three volunteers arrived in New Jersey, they ran into
several roadblocks - literally.
"The highway was gridlocked," Yahn said.
They asked a traffic officer for the nearest fire station and were
directed to the Newark Fire Training Academy.
What happened next is a blur, but with help from Newark fire
officials and the Coast Guard, the three arrived in Manhattan
Wednesday night, ready to volunteer.
After working in an emergency triage center at a high school, the
Memphians tended to the "walking wounded" by washing debris
and dust out of eyes and mend|ing cuts.
"We were getting so disheartened because we wanted to help
as many survivors as we could, but there weren't that many to
help," Yahn said.
Thursday and Friday, after officials learned the three were trained
as firefighter-paramedics, they were dispatched to rescue
operations at the World Trade Center.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with firefighters from across the
country, the men took part in the bucket brigade removing
mounds of dirt and debris.
"It looked like something out of a sci-fi movie," Yahn said. "We
were working like we were in an assembly line near three to four
stories of dirt and debris. Nobody, and I mean nobody, wanted to
stop working. People were working till they dropped."
The tragedy and the enormity of the attack hit them head on
when they found a torso under the area where a sky bridge had
been, said Cecil, 32.
"It is so hard .|.|. but we just kept busy so we wouldn't think
about it."
When the bodies of some of the missing New York firefighters
were found the somber mood deepened.
"Everybody except the New York firefighters were moved out of
the area because they wanted to carry out their brothers. That
was their family and we all understood," Yahn said.
The Memphians worked until Red Cross officials made them stop.
They were taken to Shea Stadium where they were given hot
food and showers and a place to sleep.
Saturday, after only a few hours of sleep, they returned to the
World Trade Center site, but were turned away by officials
working the area as a crime scene.
It was time to head home.
Loaded down with their gear, the Memphians were cheered as
they walked through the New York streets and boarded the
subway.
"It was like we were in a ticker-tape parade," Cecil said. "Flags
were waving and people kept giving us encouragement."
The friends, who went through the Memphis fire academy
together nearly six years ago, didn't want to come home.
"There is so much left to do," said 31-year-old Hart, the quiet
one. "It was hard leaving, but we are so glad we went to give
them a little help because we felt we had to."
But they had to be back in Memphis today to take part in a
training exercise. And the Fire Department is short staffed
because other volunteers are with Tennessee Task Force One, an
urban search and rescue team mobilized by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency to work at the Pentagon.
Cecil's wife is also a firefighter-paramedic and wanted to go to
New York, but she stayed home with their daughter, Rowan, who
marked her first birthday Wednesday.
"I am glad to be back home with my family in Memphis," Cecil
said. "But the few days we were in New York we bonded with so
many people who just appreciated us being there, and the
exhaustion I've felt melted away when they simply said 'thanks.'
"
- Yolanda Jones: 529-2380