38th Anniversary of Tornado Touchdown in Albion
Scott Hyde was an Albion firefighter for 24 years. He wasn't aware a deadly tornado hit his hometown, as he was driving back to Albion May 31st, 1985.
"I'm like look at those birds, and the next thing we saw was this roof coming across the road. It was like being in that movie twister, but it wasn't a cow," Hyde said.
It was 38 years ago, when an F-4 tornado barreled through Albion. It took 12 lives, and was part of the most powerful tornado outbreak in Pennsylvania. When Hyde saw the havoc it wreaked, he started searching for his family.
"I don't know if my families alive. I don't know if anything's alive. . . I run up on the front porch, what was left of it, and I can't get in the door. So I kick the door in and it's like nothing ever happened. Like I go into the kitchen, I'm yelling for my family. No one's home and the food is on the table and nothing's disturbed," Hyde said.
Hyde rushed out of his house, and started walking to the firehouse.
"It was like valley of the zombie, it was people walking westward. Well, they were going to the fire station, because as a kid if you need help you go to the police station, or fire station . . I turned the corner to the fire station, and it was like whoa, there are people just everywhere. My wife comes out, and I was like [relieved]," Hyde said.
Hyde said the aftermath was nothing short of chaos. Help rushed in from other fire departments, Emergycare, and the National Guard. The day he said has had lasting affects for him, and other firefighters.
"It really took an affect on a lot of us. . . for probably 13 years I was in this funk, but the key phrase now is post-traumatic stress disorder, I was finally diagnosed with that. It was. . .man, I just saw a lot of good guys walk away after that," Hyde said.