‘It still haunts me’: Retired Joliet firefighter remembers volunteers answering the call in 1990 tornado

Retired Joliet firefighter Tim Carlin can be seen in a photograph from the 1990 Will County/Plainfield tornado surrounded by volunteers as they get a patient ready for transport to the hospital.

He described the volunteers as “those wonderful people who showed up from nowhere” in what was a mad scramble to help whoever they could.

This year, Carlin joined the new Certified Emergency Response Team formed in Joliet. The corps of volunteers is trained in skills such as triage and search-and-rescue to help first responders in disasters and lesser emergencies.

The CERT volunteer squad will come more prepared than the volunteers who showed up seemingly out of nowhere Aug. 28, 1990.

“We have trauma training,” Carlin said. “We show up with reflective vests. We show up with hard hats.”

The Aug. 28, 1990 tornado leveled parts of Plainfield, Oswego, Crest Hill and Joliet, killing 29 people and injuring 353. — The Aug. 28, 1990, tornado leveled parts of Plainfield, Oswego, Crest Hill and Joliet, killing 29 people and injuring 353. (Image by Brent Maring)

But Carlin will never forget the help that volunteers provided 35 years ago. And, if another tornado strikes with such impact, volunteers beyond the CERT squads will be welcome help at disaster scenes, he said.

Carlin remembers how overwhelmed first responders were after the Plainfield tornado struck.

A rescue worker walks through the devastation at Plainfield High School, which was hit by the tornado that spun through the village Aug. 28, 1990. Two fatalities were reported at the school and one nearby in the administration building. — A rescue worker walks through the devastation at Plainfield High School, which was hit by a tornado that spun through the village Aug. 28, 1990. Two fatalities were reported at the school and one nearby in the administration building. (Shaw Local News Network)

“It still haunts me,” Carlin said a few times as he broke down in tears describing the worst moments of the day.

The worst was trying to save Sara Brower, 3, one of the youngest people to die in the tornado. Carlin was her paramedic in the ambulance drive to Saint Joseph Medical Center.

Carlin and his partner did not even know what happened when they had been dispatched to Ingalls Avenue, a far ride from their station on the east side of Joliet.

Retired Joliet firefighter Tim Carlin draws a chart showing how the new Joliet Certified Emergency Response Team is set up to respond to disasters. Aug. 22, 2025 (Bob Okon)

Once they crossed Larkin Avenue, what happened was becoming evident.

“There’s a huge something here,” he said, recollecting the scattered damage. “There’s a car there. There’s a tree dragged from God knows where.”

Police and volunteers carry a body from a field near the Crest Hill Lakes apartments after a violent tornado tore through the complex the afternoon of Aug. 28, 1990. (Shaw Media)

They got to their destination in the 2400 block of Ingalls Avenue and saw devastation beyond what Carlin could describe.

“In five minutes, there was a yell that we have to get this little girl to a hospital,” Carlin said. “That was Sara Brower.”

Sara did not survive.

“As much as a paramedic could do, there was nothing I could do for her,” Carlin said. “She was busted up and gasping for air. She was calling for mom.”

Once Sara was brought to the hospital, the ambulance headed for the Vimy Ridge subdivision, one of several areas of Joliet struck by the tornado.

Volunteers who simply showed up helped trained paramedics prepare the injured for hospitalization.

At one point, Carlin said, there may have been 20 firefighters on the scene and 30 volunteers.

“They were civilians,” he said, “and thank God they were there.”