ST. MATTHEWS, SC (WIS) - Broken pieces and the thick smell of charred wood is about enough to break a person's spirit, but Jeff Price has a whole community behind him to help him cope with the fact that he's lost just about every material thing he owns.
"It's an unbelievable amount of sorrow, fear, thankfulness that you've got help and that you're out alive. It's hard to describe. It's very hard to describe," said Price.
Price has been a firefighter for about 15 years, not because it's his job, but because helping people is just who he is.
"I don't have a lot of money to give, like that so I thought I'd volunteer," said Price. "I've enjoyed it."
Late Monday night, Price is the one who needed help as he and his wife scrambled to get out of their home as it went ablaze.
"It's kind of tough to watch one of your friends just lose everything," said Anthony Hair, a friend and co-worker of Price's.
Hair also fought the fire with his friend.
"I knew he'd do the same thing for me," said Hair. "He'd give you the shirt off his back if you need it. He'd do anything for you."
The fire was all-consuming within minutes and that's all the time Price had to try to save his home. He picked up his hose, but it was frozen solid so his only option at that point was to just wait.
"You feel like you know what the people are going through because you've seen so many -- when the table's turned, you have no idea," said Price.
Fire flew up the chimney and tore through the place where he raised his daughters and where he built nearly every piece of furniture by hand.
"They worked their butts off and did everything they could," said Price of his firefighter friends. "It was just one of the cases where there wasn't a lot you could do."
Price couldn't leave with much, so the community filled in the rest.
"We don't need anymore clothes, we've got more now than we had when we went to bed the other night," said Price. "Blankets, pillows, money, the donations what the town, county and community have done for us is unreal. And that's what I take to heart and really appreciate."
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