Aroma Fire Protection District firefighters don’t see themselves as heroes because what they do every day is just part of the job.

That was put to the test with the March 10 tornado that tore through the small Kankakee County community, as this storm hit so close to home for them and their families. Yet the department of 25 personnel, including both part-time and paid on-call firefighters, responded like true heroes.

“I don’t think any of us think that we’re heroes,” firefighter Andrew Bowes said.

“It’s just another day,” firefighter Kyle King said.

“I’m definitely proud of my guys,” Fire Chief Luke Shepherd said. “I’m proud of the surrounding communities’ departments that came in, the way MABAS activated... You can plan for it all you want. I don’t care, but I talked to a chief a couple days ago, and he said, ‘They don’t prepare us for this.’”

Shepherd was referring to the instance when a disaster strikes right at home.

Firefighter Jeremy Neufeld, who lives in Aroma Park, was at his home just off Baker Street with his girlfriend, tracking the storm on a storm chaser’s live stream.

Neufeld said they watched the storm as it started in Peoria, seeing it touch down, and eventually witnessed it cross Interstate 57 and the Kankakee River heading for Aroma Park.

“That’s when I realized that’s coming right toward the house,” he said. “So we got in the crawl space and let it pass over.”

As soon as it passed, Neufeld said he emerged from the crawl space, bypassing any damage to his house, jumped in his truck, and headed to the fire station to start responding to calls.

Neufeld said it was hectic immediately after the tornado touched down, with the report of a structure fire on Heiland Road while the ambulance crew was out on a call.

“Obviously, we had several calls coming in, and we were trying to just prioritize where we’re going and trying to get to these people,” he said.

The responses were made incredibly difficult by roadway blockages caused by downed trees and power lines. Then, everyone starts driving around to check out the damage or looking to help people.

The farther the fire district trucks got into the tornado’s direct path, the harder it was to get the rigs through due to all the debris.

“We just started walking, trying to check on everybody. We were going to houses and securing utilities if needed, or making sure people were accounted for,” Neufeld said. “But it was very surreal and just overwhelming.”

“The residents were great,” he added. “They were helping us cut trees to get down roads.”

Neufeld said he had to stop and take a breath a couple of times throughout the night.

“I live here. It’s my community,” he said. “It’s my neighborhood. I lived here for 20 years, and just seeing it in the state that it was, and all of your neighbors, all the people you know, it’s just, it’s a lot.”

He spent most of the night helping out in the Strasma and Elmwood areas and was shocked by how many houses were gone.

“All the trees are gone,” Neufeld said. “I used to be able to look out my porch and see just trees toward the Strasma neighborhood. Now it’s nothing. There’s nothing there.”

He’ll never forget that night with all the power out and the only light coming from flashlights. It was all dark.

“I’ve never seen the town like that before,” Neufeld said. “It’s eerie. There was just a feeling about that night that was just off. It was unsettling. … We all have family here. We had to check on our people, and we couldn’t right away.”

Shepherd, who also grew up in Aroma Park, said the recovery to get the village back to normal is the hardest part of the job.

“For me, the hardest part is knowing a small town department ... everything comes through here when there’s a disaster or something major. Everything comes through this fire department because they know we’re here.”

Shepherd said that the days right after the tornado, the department was out in the village surveying for gas leaks, getting calls about downed power lines and brush fires, and helping people out of their houses. The Aroma Fire was the base of operations for the Red Cross, Nicor, Illinois Emergency Management Agency and ComEd.

“It was very busy here for the rest of that week and part of the next week,” he said.

He can’t thank the greater Kankakee County community enough for all the people coming in to help, bringing supplies and food.

“We were going out every morning, every afternoon, making sure everybody’s safe,” he said. “Does anybody need anything? That kind of stuff. So [returning to the station to wait for calls] was the hardest part, because I felt we needed to be out doing something, but we can’t. Really, our job is the emergency side of it.”

After about three days, Aroma Fire went back into emergency mode while the village slowly rebuilds. There were 46 homes destroyed, more than 60 heavily damaged, and close to 400 more with moderate or minimal damage.

“For me, living in the community, that’s the hardest thing,” Shepherd said. “As [Neufeld] said, the landscape has changed forever. … Those big oak trees that are 200, 300, 400 years old, they’re gone. The house can be rebuilt, but the ‘home’ is gone.”

Being first responders and firefighters is something the fire district trains for.

“This is what we do, and this is what we like doing,” Shepherd said. “This is a profession we chose.”