Staff photo / Bob Coupland Frank Sole of Poland, left, and Andrew Brincko of Youngstown, who are both ham radio operators, look over material on the May 31, 1985, tornado during which they both helped out as radio communicators at shelters.

Communication in 1985 was much different than today, with no cellphones, texting, emails — and, with no power — no telephones.

Local ham radio operators did what they could to help communicate after the May 31, 1985, tornadoes that took out power for many people.

Andrew Brincko of Youngstown, Wes Boyd of Girard, Jerry Lowe of Leavittsburg and Frank Sole of Poland were all ham radio operators who remember what happened on May 31, 1985.

Brincko said he and other ham radio operators were part of an early Skywarn in 1985 and attended programs about the warning service. He remembers speakers talking about the tornado that hit Xenia in 1974.

Sole said that using repeaters and other equipment, those in the Mahoning Valley can communicate with people in Cleveland.

Brincko said on May 31, 1985, people were out and about following the tornado.

“I was living in Austintown at the time, and there were reports on May 31 of a tornado watch and also tornado warning, so a lot of guys went to the fire station parking lot in Mineral Ridge with their mobile radios and watched to the north and west. People were saying they had never seen a grayish-green sky like they did that day for most of the day. I had a lot of traffic on the radio network,” Brincko said.

He said he remembers watching north from state Route 46 to Niles and noticed how dark the sky was east of Niles.

“The sky in one section was really black, I had never seen a sky that black. People said there was a tornado, but for me, I did not see it because it was embedded in the cloud cover,” Brincko said.

He said soon he and others heard a lot of sirens, and the radio operators were involved with disaster relief.

Brincko went to the American Red Cross headquarters in Youngstown and stayed until 1 a.m. He and others dispatched messages from the Red Cross to other agencies.

Sole said all the communication was done by radio because there was no power since the tornado took down so many power lines.

Brincko said Niles lost their telephone service and electricity that night.

“Girard and Niles could not talk to each other,” he said, adding ham radios were the only means of communication.

On June 1, Brincko returned to the American Red Cross site, helping people with what services were available. He said he remembers traveling to a neighborhood in Hubbard off U.S. Route 62 north of where the truck stop is today.

“I had friends who lived there, and I was standing in what was their yard with people picking through the rubble of what was there. All that was left of her two-story Colonial house was one corner. The rest of the house was scattered around the yard,” he said.

ROLLER RINK RUBBLE

Lowe said he was on his radio and had a call for help to assess the destruction at the roller rink on U.S. Route 422 in Niles.

He remembered people were going through the rubble looking for bodies.

He said while he was at the roller rink, he met former Trumbull County commissioner Tony Latell.

“There was nothing but rubble left of the roller rink. While I was there, they said Gov. Richard Celeste was going to Newton Falls, so I and the commissioner went to Newton Falls,” Lowe said.

Lowe said in Newton Falls, parts of the high school’s roof was missing. Brincko said he remembers a church in Newton Falls had a rare Friday evening wedding that got hit.

“The people in the church heard the tornado was coming, and they got out of there,” Brincko said.

Brincko said he remembers people were killed at the plaza off Route 422 next to the roller rink.

Lowe said he communicated with the governor through the ham radio.

“Everything was done through the radio. I was getting information on where the governor was and when he was coming to Newton Falls,” Lowe said.

On June 1, Lowe went to the Niles Fire Department station and stayed all day and he would communicate with people who needed help.

The fire department became a communication center with the radios used until the power came back on.

“When I was at the fire department all night, Hamzat arrived with their trucks to help,” he said.

RADIO WARNINGS

Sole said he was at his apartment in Boardman grilling food on the patio and heard weather alerts from the radio station.

“North of me looked dark and crummy, but it was sunny in the other direction. Then it became stone still and eerily quiet with no wind or breeze,” Sole said.

He said he listened to the radio and someone came on and said they were in Newton Falls, and there was no downtown left in Newton Falls.

“I remember hearing that like it was yesterday. I kept paying attention because I knew there was a bad storm somewhere. People were on the radio saying there was a tornado in Ravenna,” he said, indicating a tornado touched down near the Ravenna Arsenal.

Brincko said people told him the tornado sat in Ravenna for three to four minutes and did not move.

“We kept hearing reports of tornadoes in Newton Falls and then Niles and then Hubbard. We thought these had to be different tornadoes. It turned out to be the same tornado. There were reports coming in on the radio of a tornado all the way in western Pennsylvania. A friend of mine lived in Wheatland, and the tornado went through there,” Sole said.

He said he realized how bad the situation was and contacted people on the radio saying he was available to help where needed. Sole was asked to go to a shelter in Liberty High School’s gymnasium and he used his radio to stay there all night

“I remember seeing all the victims walking into the gym. They looked like they were shell-shocked. It looked like they had been through a war. Some were reunited with family members there,” Sole said.

He said people slept on cots with blankets in the gym.

Sole said on June 3, he was heading to work in Warren and was on state Route 11 and could see wooded areas with huge gaps in them.

“It looked like someone had carved a path through the woods. It was a football field-sized-wide path as far as you could see. It looked like a bulldozer made an aisle through the woods,” Sole said.

Sole said all the trees were gone with only stumps left, and even grass was gone.

He said the tornado went over Girard Lakes.

Brincko said he was heading to work in Warren and Warren Avenue had two large two-to three-story-high propane tanks blocking the road.

Boyd, who was living at Salt Springs Road and Liberty Street in Girard, said he was fixing a flat tire on his son’s bike when he noticed there was no breeze or wind in the air.

“The kids were planning to go to the skating rink that night. They went there almost every Friday night. There was a special birthday party first at the roller rink and then the kids could get in after. All the kids who would have been in here didn’t go and the birthday party had not gotten to the skating rink yet,” Boyd said.

Boyd said his wife noticed the sky north of them was orangish and pinkish in color.

Boyd said he saw Wethersfield trustee Butch Buccella who said a bad storm was coming so he grabbed his portable radio. He said he drove to the skating rink and saw the devastation and there were large tanks nearby that were demolished.

Boyd was assigned to Liberty High School to help with radio communications. He said he helped with communications between the Red Cross in Youngstown and the Red Cross in Warren.

He said he and Sole were at Liberty High School helping together. Boyd went to work on June 3 to the radio station WHOT, and set up a radio to help people who needed food or baby formula, generators or gasoline.

Boyd went to the Red Cross in Warren where he spent three days helping with communications for the staff and those calling in.

He was able to see the damage in Liberty and Hubbard with the fire department.

Sole said the normal roads to go places were blocked with trees and debris.

“There were key areas with no roads so you could not get through,” Sole said.

Brincko said there was a young boy missing and divers were going into Girard Lakes to see if they could find him.

“The tornado crossed over the lakes and there was a lot of debris dumped in the lakes,” Brincko said.

Some said after the tornado, there were ham radio operators set up from Ravenna all the way east to Wheatland, Pa.

“We became the telephone mouthpieces and earpieces for people,” Boyd said.

WHAT THEY REMEMBER

Brincko said he will always remember the images of the remains of the roller rink.

“When I saw the roller rink there were large beams that supported the roof of the roller rink and they were pulled back like ribbon candy. I could not believe the awesome power of nature,” he said

Lowe said when he went through neighborhoods delivering water and supplies, he said he could not believe the devastation.

”What you see on TV or in the paper is not what you see in real life,” Lowe said.

Sole said he will always remember hearing the guy on the radio saying Newton Falls is not here anymore.

“I will always remember the people walking into the gym at Liberty High School and the faces of the people. I will always remember how they looked. It was awful,” Sole said.

Boyd said he is grateful that his children did not go to the roller rink as early as they do on Friday night.

“I learned no matter how much training you have, you are never really prepared for something like this,” Boyd said.