"It looked like those old pictures of World War II bombings. Where there's a little bit of a tree of a tree sticking up, and everything's demolished."
Twenty-five years later, those are the words former Oakfield Village President Tony O'Malley uses to describe the chaos left behind by the last F-5 tornado to strike the state of Wisconsin.
On July 18th, 1996, the small Fond du Lac county community found itself square in the sites of this tornado.
Former village fire chief Gary Cillien had to watch as the tornado tore apart his town. Also a trained storm spotter, was north of town, keeping eye out for any severe weather.
"Biggest thing, I couldn't realize how much damage it was really doing. You see pictures after the fact, but it was hard to imagine really what happened to our village," says Cillien.
Thankfully, his view of the tornado allowed the Oakfield village sirens to sound before the tornado struck.