‘People need a sign of hope:’ Ohio firefighters restore Mayfield Christmas tree
HANOVER TOWNSHIP, Ky. (WJW) — “This is a bit of a tear-jerker… So brace yourselves.”
A group from the Calcutta Fire Department in East Liverpool, Ohio re-ignited hope in a town that was devastated by last week’s deadly tornadoes that ripped through six states just weeks before Christmas.
In a Facebook post, the department says that as they were wrapping up their rescue and clean-up mission in Mayfield, Kentucky, they noticed a large cone shape frame in the wreckage and got an idea.
After discovering the cone was “left of what used to be” a Christmas tree from two blocks away in Hanover Township, they got a backhoe, dragged the cone up the street and placed it in front of city hall. They managed to find nearly all the scattered garland sections that dressed it up, then attached it back to the tree.
But that still wasn’t good enough. Something was missing. They went to a local store, bought Christmas lights for it and strung them up. They also bought two American flags to hang from city hall and the police department to replace the flag pole that was knocked down.
And that’s when the townspeople started to gather saying, “This has been so hard on all of us and can’t even think about Christmas, the fact you guys took the time the last couple hours to put our Christmas tree up to bring us joy, we don’t even have words for what it means to us right now.”
When someone asked, “Why in the middle of this would you hang up a Christmas tree and flags?”
Their response was, “Because people need a sign of hope and hopefully it brings a smile to someone’s face this holiday season.”
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