THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505040152
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Over Easy
SOURCE: Jo-Ann Clegg
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
The last time that I sat down in the kitchen at the Woodstock Fire Station to talk with Master Firefighters Dennis Keane and Keene Black, the subject was trains.
Model trains, that is. Keane and Black are model railroaders. Like most who pursue that hobby, they're ready to go to or put on a train show anywhere, anytime.
Last Christmas they put one on in a big way at the station, right there where a couple of trucks are usually parked.
They came up with the idea during one of those slow 24-hour shifts when everything in the station has already been polished to a fare-the-well, the paper work is all caught up and the local citizenry is managing to keep sparks and combustibles properly separated.
``Let's put on a Christmas train display for the kids of people who work in the department,'' one of them said to the other.
``Sounds good to me,'' the other said.
``Why limit it just to department kids?'' the chief asked when they sent their suggestion up the line for approval. ``Why not invite the public in to enjoy it?''
Which is just what they did and which is what I was there to talk with them about several months ago.
Earlier this week I picked up a box of doughnuts and dropped by Station 10 to talk to them again, this time on a far more serious topic.
Keane, Black and the rest of the Woodstock A shift were among the team of 56 rescue workers in the local FEMA team that spent five long days searching through the rubble of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
It was a bone-tired Dennis Keane whose picture greeted you from the front page of the Beacon last Sunday morning.
By Tuesday afternoon, their first day back on rotation, the men of A shift looked a lot less tired and a lot more relaxed even though they had already put in many hours of work cleaning, replacing and repacking the gear and supplies they had carried to Oklahoma City with them.
This time most of the shift, which consists of David Hutcheson, Leon Dextradeur, Paul Pureza, Scott Prentice, Jerry Rogers and Capt. Steve Cover in addition to Keane and Black, sat around the kitchen table, dug into the doughnuts and talked about the experience of Oklahoma City.
Some memories were good. The strength of the Oklahoma City community was one of those, especially the way the people pulled together. So was the way the people who had lost so much responded to those who came to help them.
``They treated us like kings,'' one firefighter said as his shiftmates nodded their agreement.
Some memories were tragic. ``We were hoping we wouldn't find any dead children,'' a team member said softly. But they did locate small bodies. Then they stood back, just as the Oklahoma City authorities had requested that they do, so the home folks could remove their own dead.
``We made access,'' another team member said simply, ``they removed.''
And some memories were especially poignant.
All agreed that the most moving moment was when the body of the Marine, the one found dead in his uniform at his post, was brought out.
The Virginia team, along with their co-workers from New York City, formed lines on either side of the exit route as the Oklahoma workers carried the body, covered by a flag, out of the rubble.
``They double-timed all the way out,'' an A shift member explained, ``and we and New York gave a final salute.''
``Our last night, before we left, we stopped to have a prayer on the Hill,'' another told me. ``That was the pile of rubble that was right over the crater.''
``Did New York join you for that?'' I asked. ``No,'' he said softly, ``it was just us that time.''
Things were quiet for a minute or so, and then they began talking about their flight home. ``It was a lot more comfortable than our flight out,'' a firefighter told me. ``Going out we sat in slings because there wasn't any room for seats (in the Air Force C-141).
``Before we left we donated one of our pallets of supplies to the rescue workers who were still there. When the pilots (from an Air Force base in Florida) heard that, they went out of their way to stop off (at a base) in North Carolina and have seats put back in the plane for us.''
Before I left the station I asked about their plans for this year's Christmas train show.
``We had a meeting about that just the day before (the explosion). Looks like it's definitely a go,'' Black told me.
``I'm going to tell everyone I know to be sure and come,'' I promised. I figured that could be my own small way of saying thanks for all of the credit the A shift and those who worked with them have brought to our city.
That, and the nearly empty box of doughnuts I had left behind. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Dennis Keane, who helped organize a model train display last
Christmas at the Woodstock Fire Station, was among the A shift
members who made up part of the Hampton Roads FEMA team in Oklahoma
City.
by CNB