For about 15 hours, Letcher Fire Chief Wallace Bolling Jr. sat alone atop of his department's tanker as raging flood waters destroyed his rural Kentucky fire station.
He was unable to communicate with anyone. He pointed to his perch and explained the ordeal.
"I was just trying to tell my mom, dad and kids, you know, if I never spoke to them again, I love them," Bolling told a CBS reporter in a video posted to YouTube.
On its Facebook page, the Letcher Fire and Rescue Ambulance Service Inc. wrote: "We are devastated by the damage done to our service. Please lift up our organization in prayer as we begin to pick up the pieces of this unimaginable loss. We will continue to serve our community in the best way possible, but please be patient with us as we attempt to accommodate our staff and rebuild the department we all love. May God Bless Letcher County Kentucky."
Likewise, Bolling asked for prayers for all first responders on his Facebook page. He added that the fire department is down for the "foreseeable future."
