WI Fire Station Set Up as Lost and Found for Items Scattered by Tornado
By By Chris Vetter
Source The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
Oct. 5--CHIPPEWA FALLS -- In the aftermath of the Sept. 24 tornado in the town of Wheaton, hundreds of personal items, ranging from pictures to stuffed toys, have been collected and brought to the Chippewa Fire District station located in the town.
"There are over 500 items, the last I saw," said Adam Blaskowski, assistant chief who works at the Wheaton station. "And things are still trickling in. It's all kinds of things. It's knickknacks and oddball stuff. It was one of our first priorities, to collect personal property, before it got rained on, or got damaged more."
Those items have all been catalogued, and pictures of each item have been taken, and the Wheaton station is the home of the lost and found. Now, those pictures are on the town of Wheaton website, in hopes the rightful owner can come and claim them. The website is townofwheaton.com.
A total of 29 homes were damaged or destroyed during the tornado, causing about $3 million in damage. However, a nearby mini-storage unit was heavily damaged. Blaskowski said perhaps 300 units were damaged.
"We think a lot (of the items) may have come from there," Blaskowski said. "Some (of the people renting units) may not even live around here."
Cleanup efforts are continuing, and Blaskowski said 500 high school and middle school students from Elk Mound will be coming to clean up from noon to 2:30 p.m. on Monday.
"We'll search the fields again, and clean it up even better than the first time," Blaskowski said. Also, at 7 p.m. Monday, officials from the Department of Natural Resources will be at the fire station to meet with area residents about forest management and cleaning up fallen trees, Blaskowski said.
On Tuesday, residents affected by the tornado are invited to go to the Chippewa County Courthouse, rooms 001-003, between 3 and 6:30 p.m., for an informational meeting on recovering from the tornado.
"Multiple agencies will be represented at this open house to answer questions concerning replacement of vital records, building permits, crop damage, state or federal programs, and other topics," the invitation states.
The EF3 tornado touched down in Elk Mound around 7:43 p.m. Sept. 24 and traveled east into Chippewa County, moving through the town of Wheaton and ending just west of Chippewa Falls, according to the National Weather Service.
The tornado was on the ground for 4.3 miles, and it was a half-mile wide. A total of 1,520 acres were impacted. A total of 25 square miles was searched for people with injuries.
More than 1,000 volunteers helped clean up the damaged area in the first week after the storm, Blaskowski said.
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