ST. LOUIS – Even when they are off duty, they are on a mission. Local firefighters are stepping up to support neighborhoods hit by the May 16 tornado. And they are doing it on their own time.

“People need help. Lots of people need help. That’s what keeps us going,” Dan Clark, president of the International Firefighters Local 73.

Clark is a firefighter with the St. Louis Fire Department. Several other departments, including University City, Maplewood, and Clayton, have visited dozens of homes, where they have boarded up windows, tarped roofs, and cleared debris.

Cynthia Williams’ family has lived on at the corner of Enright and Aubert Avenues in the Fountain Park neighborhood for more than 80 years. Her three-story home was a near-total loss from the storms. But the firefighters did hour

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