'You're not going to handle that alone': Retired Tulsa firefighter says the OKC bombing was a defining moment in his career

A retired Tulsa firefighter says the Oklahoma City bombing was a defining moment in his career.

John Stapleton says what he saw and heard at the Murrah building after the bombing is still clear in his mind.

What sticks with him the most is the way people from all over the country helped. 

Ready and willing

John Stapleton was in an EMT class in Tulsa when he heard the news about the bombing. He went to OKC the next day, and he says first responders at the scene were met with a massive amount of support.

When he left Tulsa, he had no idea how he was going to help; he just knew he needed to do something.

"What exactly was our task going to be? Where were they going to assign us? What were we going to be doing? We showed up pretty cold, we were not sure what we were getting ourselves into," said Stapleton.

Assigned to search and rescue 

"We were going in through large slabs that had fallen, and we were searching any voids that we could get to, trying to find if there were any survivors, any of the victims that were there," said Stapleton. 

There's one victim he found, he's never forgotten.

"We later found out was up on one of the actual upper floors. But when we found him, he was at a desk. Laid over on his desk, it was like nothing had happened. Just went straight down," said Stapleton. 

John says his seven years of experience at the time could never have prepared him for facing a tragedy like the bombing.

Reflecting on what happened 30 years later

As John looks back at his career, the bombing is both a terrible memory and a great one, great because he saw people from all over the country coming together.

"Anything that comes against us, our surrounding community is going to be, they're going to put their best foot forward, the whole city, the whole town. They're going to come in and support whatever the operation is. You're not going to handle that alone," said Stapleton. 

John has a piece of the Murrah building sitting in his home, and it's a reminder of the selfless work firefighters do.