June 22--BILOXI -- Four members of the Biloxi Fire Department are heading to Oklahoma to spend a week helping rebuild the homes of firefighters in the tornado-stricken city of Yukon.
They will meet up with firefighters from New Sharon, Iowa. The firefighters share a friendship forged in adversity. New Sharon firefighters came to help Biloxi firefighters recover after Hurricane Katrina.
Since then, they teamed up to help with recovery in New York from Hurricane Sandy in November and had planned to return to New York next week.
"We got word from our firefighter friends in New Sharon that some of the firefighter families in Yukon are living in a shelter," said Biloxi Fire Battalion Chief Joe Boney.
Yukon, population 24,000, is just west of Oklahoma City. Storms that swept through the area June 1 produced an EF5 tornado and violent flash floods just 11 days after five other twisters had hit the region. The latest tornado claimed 20 lives.
Yukon has 33 full time firefighters.
Boney and Deputy Chief John Jennings are among those who will donate their time to help do construction work and some demolition at the firefighters' homes. They will leave at 6 a.m. Sunday.
They're taking an assortment of tools in a trailer donated by Harrison County Fire Services.
The Biloxi Fire Museum will pay the travel expenses.
"A couple of private citizens have donated money as well," Boney said.
City officials have okayed the use of a van.
The Salvation Army is setting up space in a gym to house the group from Biloxi and New Sharon, and a civic group will prepare breakfast and dinner for them.
"Everything has fallen into place even though we had a last-minute change of plans," Boney said. "We're glad to do what we can to help."
Copyright 2013 - The Sun Herald
