When you're a Philadelphia firefighter, you see a lot of strange sights.
But for the group of firefighters who spent a week in Gulfport, Miss., helping with search and rescue, there were sights almost beyond belief.
Like the way Hurricane Katrina had completely wiped away homes and businesses not only along the beach, but several miles inland.
So that the rescuers, instead of going house-to-house, often found themselves going "slab-to-slab," in the words of Philadelphia Fire Lt. John O'Neill, of Squad 47.
Then there were the two Vietnamese men found sitting on a shrimp boat on dry land, a half-mile from the Gulf of Mexico. The two had ridden out the storm on the boat, and were still on board long after the weather had cleared.
"They were dazed and confused," said Lt. Bud Werner, of Rescue 1.
O'Neill and Werner were among 14 Philadelphia firefighters who went to Gulfport as part of Pennsylvania Task Force 1. That's an 80-member federal search-and-rescue team that includes firefighters and others from throughout the state and beyond.
Their job was to comb through the wreckage along the Mississippi coast, looking for survivors and trying to determine what became of those who tried to ride out the storm.
Most of the Philly firefighters returned home yesterday, with some unusual tales.
Like the one about the couple in their 80s found sitting calmly in beach chairs on their porch.
"To the left of their property, the houses were washed out," said Firefighter Jerry Reed, of Rescue 1. "To the right of their property, the houses were washed out. Their house did not have a single shingle missing."
This was two miles from the beach, in what had been a neighborhood of small, one-story houses reminiscent, Reed said, of Villas, near Wildwood.
The couple didn't seem remotely surprised they had survived.
"It wasn't our time to go," the woman explained.
The elderly pair even offered the rescuers cold water, and took a snapshot of Reed posing with two local sheriff's deputies.
Said Reed: "I was amazed at how calm and collected they were."
The task force, one of 28 in the country, is part of an urban search-and-rescue network run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The Philadelphia firefighters on the Pennsylvania team have special training in dealing with disasters.
And they said yesterday they were glad to be able to help the victims of Katrina.
"Everybody wants to do something," said Firefighter Mark Jacoby, of Rescue 1. "That I had the opportunity to go down there and help them out made me feel pretty good."
O'Neill said what amazed him most, what "will stay with me, and I'll pass along to my children," was the dedication of the firefighters from the devastated communities. Many had lost their homes, but insisted on staying on the job.
"They're my heroes," said O'Neill.
