In the wake of disaster

Post firefighter offers first-hand account of Suffolk distruction

BY PATRICIA RADCLIFFE
CASEMATE STAFF WRITER

As Fort Monroe firefighter Scott Caldwell was browsing through an auto parts store in Suffolk Monday, he had no clue that his emergency rescue skills would soon be tested by a tornado.

Caldwell was biding his time in a NAPA outlet while his wife, Ann Marie, and daughter, Caitlin, were attending an appointment in a nearby dentist’s office. The ominous tone of an emergency alert message over a nearby radio caught his attention. It was saying something about tornados and the city.

Caldwell said he wondered whether it was merely a watch — where conditions are favorable for tornados to spawn — or an actual warning that meant the whirlwinds had been spotted already visually or using radar.

He scurried out of the store and returned to his SUV to get more information over its radio. That’s when he learned that a tornado had already been seen and that the storm in the area was far worse than he imagined.

Caldwell began counting the time between lightening flashes to gauge the distance of the approaching storm.

Eight seconds ... four seconds ... two seconds … whoosh! The truck started rocking from the force of winds passing just behind him. About 15 seconds later, the stillness returned.

It was around 4 p.m. and a category F-3 tornado had hop-scotched through Suffolk, touching down ever-so-often to leave debris from homes and trees scattered throughout the town.

A category F-3 tornado packs winds of 158 to 206 miles per hour that can rip bricks from the sides of buildings, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Web site.

Caldwell said his wife and daughter exited the dentist’s office because the electricity had gone off. So, the family headed for their Carrollton home via Route 10, getting out from time-to-time to move debris that made the streets almost impassable.

But they didn’t get far because emergency vehicles forced travelers to make a U-turn near Elephants Fork Elementary School.

“We were high enough that we could see that the tops of trees and houses had been destroyed,” Caldwell said. “That’s when we started helping. To me it was like second nature. I felt like I was at work again.”

Caldwell credits the training he and other post firefighters receive here — as well as the lessons learned during the mass casualty drill that was conducted at Walker Airfield in March — with helping him be ready for this unexpected situation.

The Caldwells stopped by Elephants Fork Elementary School where trees had been snapped and vehicles overturned. Fortunately, the tornado hit 15 minutes before school was scheduled to be dismissed, so no one was injured or had been out in the storm. The school was in “lock down” mode.

Caldwell and a school nurse combined forces for awhile and searched house to house for injured people in a nearby subdivision.

“It looked like Godzilla came through town shuffling his feet. One building would be intact and the next was gone … intact, then gone, over and over again. It was unreal,” Caldwell said.

He saw car parts — like a hood that was up high in a tree — but a matching vehicle was nowhere to be found. He also saw a 10-wheeled truck on its side. The hood was warm, he said, and there were personal items inside; however, the windshield was missing and so was the driver.

Caldwell said they stumbled upon a heavily damaged car with deployed air bags. Its windshield wipers were working but the sunroof was broken. He suspected the driver had left the car through the roof. The firefighter looked under and around each vehicle, but could not find anyone.

He came upon a house with an open gas line and the volatile vapors were spewing into the air. Looking around, he saw a lone kitchen drawer. There was no surrounding counter, other drawers or house associated with it. It was just lying on the ground. But, inside the drawer was a pair of pliers with which he turned off the gas.

“It was so weird that nobody was walking around in the neighborhood. It was as if the rapture had happened,” Caldwell said.

During the ensuing two hours, rescue workers from at least seven local cities flooded the disaster scene, freeing Caldwell to complete his journey home.

He said the vastness of the storm’s distruction is incomprehensible and feels he did all he could to help. Still the somewhat puzzling actions of one neighborhood man replay in his mind.

“I saw him come out of his house with a long piece of debris. He kept holding it, walking and looking around. It seemed he just wanted to put it back where it belonged,” Caldwell said.