FOX23 Investigates: Clean up continues in Barnsdall, debris piles up

BARNSDALL, Okla. — Families in Barnsdall are still cleaning up, and now, there's one place where everyone is supposed to take what's left of their homes.

A lot off Highway 11 on the south side of town, and right behind the library.

FOX23 has been in Barnsdall since day one of cleanup.

Three guys from three different towns, Jared Tate from Bartlesville, Kyle Wingard from Owasso and Frankie Livingston from Coweta, each drove to Barnsdall again and again.

Jared and Kyle dumped, after they'd filled up their trucks with pieces of people's tornado ravaged homes.

"To see all the destruction is absolutely heartbreaking," Kyle said. "I'll do what I can as much as I can. It tugs at my heart and I can't imagine what these people must be going through."

"Its devastating," Jared added. "These are people's homes and it amounts to a pile of rubble right now and it's sad. My heart goes out to everybody out there."

Frankie worked to smash it all down. He said certain moments made all three of them stop what they're doing.

"I jumped down and looked down and there was a little tiny baby shoe buried in the mud and it just broke my heart," Jared said.

"It's people's lives in that pile," Frankie added.

"It's heartbreaking to see this stuff out here, to know these people's lives are being loaded onto trucks and piled up is unreal to me," Kyle said.

Each guy told us he just wanted to volunteer.

"Volunteering our time shows there's people out there that care," Jared explained.

"It's the least I can do," Kyle said. "They're going to be needing help for months and months."

All three are in Barnsdall to help people they don't even know.

"God aligned everything so I was able to come up and help," Kyle said. "I'd like to think if something like this happened to me there would be people to lend a helping hand to me."

These guys said they'll continue helping but they know, the growing pile, is only the beginning.

"My truck will only make a small dent in what they're gonna need out here," Kyle said.

"Yeah, it's gonna be awhile," Frankie added.