As journalists, it’s our job to show others what is happening, to document the immediate history of events.
Historically, journalism ethics taught us to stay out of the way and to not get involved while we’re reporting. But in some cases, in the moment, journalism can’t help.
And journalism wasn’t going to help put out a house fire near the Suwannee River.
The day after Hurricane Idalia hit Florida’s Gulf Coast, USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida reporters were dispatched across the Big Bend to share our North Florida neighbors’ stories in the aftermath of the once-in-a-century storm.
One reporter went to Steinhatchee, two went to Madison, another went to Perry. Douglas Soule, a First Amendment reporter, and Alicia Devine, a Tallahassee Democrat photographer, headed to the fishing village of Suwannee.
“We think it’s important to go to each community, no matter how big or small it is, to document their experiences post-Idalia,” Soule said. “Rural communities like the ones that were most affected are just as important as any other.”
At first, the day started normally, or as normal as possible after a Category 3 hurricane slammed into some of the poorest counties in the state.
Devine, with her camera, and Soule, with a recorder and notebook, traveled to Cross City, then to the coastal town of Suwannee, where damage shifted from downed trees to marooned boats that had once been tied to docks on the Suwannee River.
As they drove around town, they met Frank Couch, a local whose house’s first floor was covered in mud. After leaving his place, they drove around Suwannee and a woman called their attention to the smoke down the road.
Devine and Soule approached a two-story gray house on the Suwannee River, the driveway lined by palms.
“We were still in reporter mode at that point,” Devine said, who began to document the dark, bad-smelling smoke coming from the roof.
Until someone yelled, “we need buckets.”
Soule called Couch, asking if he had any buckets to spare. Couch rushed down and joined those fighting the flames.
Devine and Soule found a plastic trash can and hopped into an assembly line of neighbors and Suwannee residents, filling it up with water. Some jumped into the Suwannee River and filled 5-gallon, orange Home Depot buckets, even a metal stock pot, to try to put out the fire.
Devine ended up in the Suwannee with them, her feet sinking in the black river mud as she lifted the buckets full of water above her head and over the river wall.
“She was busting her butt,” Couch recalled later. “I thought that was cool for her to put down her cameras, and she got busy. She don’t have nothing to do with this place down here and she jumped in.”
But all their attempts to put out the fire were failing. Soule and Devine could feel the heat emanating from the house as the fire continued to spread.
“A lot of these people have lost so much already,” Devine said. “You almost feel helpless because you’re doing everything you can, and it’s only getting worse by the second.”
Eventually a Dixie County fire truck came with two water trucks – even though there was a fire hydrant close by, Idalia had knocked the water out.
Soule, who had briefly stepped away to move his car and direct the fire trucks, grabbed a fire hose, and with the help of neighbors, ran heavy hoses up to the house and let the firefighters take over.
But the water from the firetrucks wasn’t enough, and Devine and Soule saw the fire blaze over and onto the second floor. The house was lost.
Soule, Devine and the other USA TODAY NETWORK – FLORIDA reporters who covered Idalia live in Tallahassee, which was mostly left unharmed as the hurricane shifted more toward the east in its last hours before landfall.
We mostly dealt with power outages and fallen tree limbs, not flooded homes and hurricane-force winds.
“You’re so thankful that you’re spared from it, but then you visit these little communities, tight-knit communities, and you see the damage that they have suffered,” Devine said. “You can’t just stand by and watch. We’re not there to poach on people’s misfortune. We’re there to share their stories and help them in any way we can.”
In Suwannee, Devine and Soule did both. They documented the devastation and acted on gut instinct, trading camera and notepad for bucket and fire hose.
In the past week, we’ve published story after story of neighbors helping neighbors.
In Madison, strangers hopped out of trucks and started cutting the trunks of pines that blocked driveways. In Steinhatchee, a town with fewer than 600 people, residents say they can rely on each other as they face months of recovery. And in Cedar Key, past grievances with neighbors were put aside, and community members volunteered to clean out the muddy homes of the elderly or of those who lost a lot more.
“There was no selfishness, it was all selflessness, and it definitely gave me a lot of faith in humanity,” Soule said.
How to help
With Tallahassee escaping the brunt of Hurricane Idalia’s wrath, this story is part of a continuing series profiling hard-hit communities. Ana Goñi-Lessan is the State Watchdog Reporter for USA TODAY – Florida and can be reached at AGoniLessan@tallahassee.com.
