When Hurricane Harvey hit Texas , firefighters instantly put everything aside to scramble from home to home, desperately trying to evacuate people as floodwaters rose.
Firefighters like Kyle Parry, who didn’t have time to think about his wedding in 13 days or even his own home just north of Beaumont, Texas.
When the 35-year-old started receiving rescue calls from his neighbourhood however, he went home in between calls to save what he could. He packed up his two dogs and their six puppies, born just weeks earlier, and shoved his fiancée’s wedding dress in the top corner of the wardrobe, hoping it would stay dry.
When he returned days later, he found his house, and future wedding site, almost completely submerged.
Parry recorded the discovery on his Facebook Live, panning across linens, table centrepieces and decorations he and his fiancée had bought, which were now bobbing in the floodwater.
“This would be where all the wedding supplies were.”
When he entered, he went straight to where he’d stored the dress and found it just centimetres above water.
“I’m sorry Steph, but I have to look,” he said, before cutting off the video.
Miraculously, the wedding dress survived the carnage.
“The only thing left was the dress,” he told his fellow firefighters and paramedics, according to Dallas News.
Despite offers to host the wedding at the firehouse, Parry and his fiancée Stephanie Hoekstra, 33, decided to postpone their September 10th wedding.
Hoesktra, however, still thinks the salvaged dress was a sign of good things.
“It was a sign that, of all this turmoil, that was the one thing that was supposed to make it,” Hoekstra said Friday.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the couple, commending Parry for his courage.
“Kyle did what he could to save his own home, but focused more on helping others, along with his fellow city fire crew,” the page says.
“They have selflessly put others safety before their own. On behalf of Kyle’s family, I want to say how extremely proud we are of him.
“He has worked around the clock to help people to safe grounds and has put his own needs aside. His actions have been nothing less than heroic.”
Parry still hasn’t seen the dress fully unfurled, so when the wedding finally happens, there’ll still be an element of surprise.
