VIDEO/PHOTOS: Thirty years ago Catoosa didn't have sirens, only had a volunteer fire department and cell phones were just starting to become a thing.
That's how Catoosa Fire Chief Denus Benton remembers it.
FOX23 talked to him Monday, 30 years since a supercell storm spawned a tornado that killed seven people and left a path of destruction and injuries through Tulsa and Catoosa. "It's just this distinct sound, just like a train and it's just roaring and the house is shaking and everything is moving," Chief Benton recalled.
He said he was a volunteer firefighter at the time, as the city didn't have full-time firefighters. His chief at the time, Walter Sunny, also remembered the vivid details that come with witnessing a tornado.
"It sounds just like everyone says," Sunny explained. "The house vibrated. I was watching things flying through the air, the trees were bending in shapes I had never seen before."