EMT Saved Neighbors In Makeshift Triage Center During Tennessee Tornado

When a deadly tornado paved a path of destruction across Putnam County, Tennessee, last week, Darrell Jennings, who is a 32-year veteran firefighter, knew he had to help. After one of the tornados blew through his neighborhood, Jennings went outside and could not believe the destruction he saw.

"I heard screams, and I looked to my right -- none of my neighbors' houses were there. They were gone," he told ABC News. "As lightning flashed, I could see the subdivision side -- the only thing standing was a tree."

Jennings grabbed his fire department radio and called for help while he began looking for survivors.

"As soon as I saw the destruction, I had my fire department radio, I called in... and said, 'I need you to send me everything we have. Everything around me is destroyed,'" he recalled.

Jennings, with the help of his wife and three teenage children, gathered whatever supplies they could and built a makeshift triage center in their living room to treat the victims of the tornado.

They estimated that they treated at least 20 people, many of them children, throughout the night. In addition to providing basic first aid, they gave the victims clothes from their own closets.

"The floor was covered with people," he said.

Two of Jennings kids helped guide some of the victims through a maze of debris to a nearby church where the fire department had set up a triage center equipped the handle people with more severe injuries.

Jennings said that it was a miracle that his house was not destroyed and knew he needed to help his neighbors.

"Through all of this," Jennings said, "we are here by the grace of God. Our house was saved, we were kept safe... I fully believe that reason was so that we could be the caring point."

While his neighborhood begins to clean up and rebuild, Jennings home is being used as a distribution point for food and supplies. 

Photo: Getty Images