BELLE ISLE -- Nearly 170 firefighters spread across Orange County in five groups Tuesday, going door-to-door to hand out ice, nail plastic sheeting over storm-damaged roofs and saw fallen limbs into manageable chunks.
In many cases, the firefighters' most important task simply was to hear out the worries and needs of sweat-soaked survivors of Hurricane Charley.
"They've got to know that somebody is out here to listen to them," said battalion chief Ron Schnell, whose government SUV attracted people whenever he stopped on residential roads of the Belle Isle area.
"It's pretty lonely when you don't have power day after day," he said.
In addition to Belle Isle, county firefighters turned up in Bithlo, in neighborhoods near east Colonial Drive and Chickasaw Trail, Edgewood and the Conway area.
Firefighters were helped in their work from nearly 70 volunteers -- Orange County government workers and county residents.
The five groups were well-equipped with chain saws, ladders and plastic sheeting.
Yet what Schnell found in Belle Isle, where he directed 20 firefighters and 15 volunteers, were many enormous trees draped over homes and blocking roads. Those would be left to professional tree crews and their cranes.
"I wouldn't know what to tell you about who got the worst and who got the least," said firefighter Tony Miller of the county's Station 70, which serves Belle Isle.
It turned out that Judy Bailey, who lives along a narrow street not far from Station 70, was among those worst hit.
An oak tipped over onto her home, caving in a portion of the attic and coming to a rest with much of its crown still high in the air.
"How are you doing?" Schnell asked Bailey on Tuesday afternoon.
"Oh, we're here," she answered, in an exhausted voice.
Bailey said she had no money to remove the tree, partly because her husband was facing cancer treatment.
"I thought the roof blew off," Bailey said, describing to Schnell what she heard when the tree hit. "I felt the whole house shift."
While driving to check on another resident, Schnell radioed instructions to have Bailey's roof covered with plastic sheeting.
"I think that's the only thing we can do," he said.
"Bless their hearts," Bailey said, speaking of the firefighters.
"Some people are a lot worse off than me."
The firefighters, some pulling regular shifts and some working overtime, plan to work again today in Orange County neighborhoods.
"If you see a need, especially for the elderly, that's why we came here," Schnell instructed his crew.
