>> And dozens of people are
still recovering tonight after a
deadly EF2 tornado ripped
through a mobile home park in
northwest Wisconsin on Tuesday.
The tornado reached wind speeds
of 130 miles per hour.
It touched down just after 5:30
Tuesday night in the small city
of Chetek in Barron County.
One of the hardest hit areas was
the Prairie Lake Estates Mobile
Home Park in Chetek.
Several mobile homes were
destroyed and a local resident,
46-year-old Eric Gavin,
was killed during the storm.
At least 25 others were injured.
>> And now to Barron County and
a "Look Ahead" into the weekend
clean-up there.
For that,
we have Barron County Sheriff
Chris Fitzgerald on the
telephone.
Thanks for being here.
>> Thank you.
>> In the aftermath of the
tornado, what is going on there
right now?
>> Yeah.
Just an update.
We just got our property and we
have 231 properties in Barron
County damaged in this storm.
It stretches about a ten-mile
stretch here.
We're in the recovery clean-up
effort as we speak today.
We have over-- as of now, over
300 or 400 volunteers on our
different sites, cleaning up,
helping people clean debris up.
We bussed them in from our
volunteer resource center.
We're in the clean-up mode right
now helping people try to get
back going on with their lives.
>> Wow.
So taking you back to Tuesday
evening,
when you and other law
enforcement first arrived,
what was that like and what was
the first order of business?
>> The first order of business,
I arrived on scene,
I was actually on duty and
arrived on scene during the
incident.
Our first was rescue.
We had several people trapped in
trailers, walls on top of them,
total devastation.
It's a miracle--
It's sad that one person died,
but it's a miracle that only
one person died
and we had 25 injured.
It's a miracle because it's
total devastation up here,
not only in the trailer court,
but across Barron County.
>> And so do you know what the
status is of those who were
injured?
I mean, are there people still
in the hospital?
>> I've got conflicting reports
this morning that a person in
the hospital might have been
released.
But there's only one or two left
in the hospital as far as I know
or zero.
It's somewhere between zero and
two people left in the hospital.
Again, it's a miracle.
It's just a miracle.
It's nothing like I've ever seen
in my 20 years of law
enforcement.
It's total devastation.
Where there's supposed to be
houses and trailers,
there's absolutely nothing.
>> Now, three days later,
how are people coping?
>> You know,
we're starting to see some of
the effects of the trauma that
it's created.
First responders and everything,
people have been working 24/7
since the incident and trying to
get people help.
But there's a lot of hope.
There's a lot of people
giving us food, water,
donations and monetary and all
that stuff is building hope
and rebuilding dreams.
And that's what we're running on
right now.
We're running on fumes,
but we're running on hope,
and it's been awesome.
It's unbelievable.
And we're going to put people's
lives back together even
starting right now in the room
right next to me.
>> All right.
Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald,
thanks very much and good luck.
>> Thank you.
>> People interested in
volunteering this weekend in
Barron County should report to
the volunteer reception center
Saturday and Sunday between the
hours of 8:00 in the morning and
5:00 p.m.
The center is set up at
St. Peter's Catholic Church at
the intersection Highways 8 and
53 in Cameron.