Summary: Volunteer firefighters pull drivers from cars as one disaster after another befalls the small community of Scottsburg

The small corps of volunteer firefighters in this community 16 miles east of Reedsport said landslides caused by heavy rains Monday and Tuesday were the worst they have ever seen.

"It was just like a nightmare," Scottsburg fire chief Steve Rose said.

From the time the Scottsburg station received its first call about a slide on Oregon 38 about 4:30 p.m. Monday, until well into the night Tuesday, firefighters bounded from one disaster to the next. In many cases, firefighters stumbled upon one disaster while heading toward another.

Several motorists had been tossed around by mudslides. In one case, Rose said firefighters pulled two women free of a small car only minutes before another slide sent the car tumbling.

"Our main goal was to get people out of the cars because they were getting hammered like bowling pins," he said.

Jack Castelli, a truck driver from Puyallup, Wash., said after he and fellow stranded drivers made it to Reedsport, people brought them food and provided them shelter. Strangers paid for their coffee Wednesday at McDonald's.

"You just don't find that in the city like you do here in the country," he said.