VIDALIA, La. &045; Rudy Rodriguez served two tours in Vietnam &045; but he said he’s never seen anything as horrific as the human and property toll left in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.

&uot;The memories of desolation, emptiness, rubble everywhere &045; it was like Vietnam, except no crater holes where the bombs hit,&uot; Rodriguez said. &uot;People walking around with blank stares. It’s like shell shock. ‘Where do I go from here?’&uot;

Rodriguez, a shift captain with the Vidalia Fire Department, was one of four local fire department personnel who delivered three pickup trucks full of nonperishable food, water and toiletries to firefighters and rescue workers serving in the aftermath of the storm.

Those who made the round trip from Vidalia to New Orleans Saturday also included Assistant Chief Ben Adams and Firefighter James Kennedy of the Vidalia Fire Department and Nolen Cothren, chief of Concordia Fire District No. 2.

The idea for the trip started when New Orleans firefighter Wayne Collongues stopped by the Vidalia fire station last week to tell his colleagues there about the devastation left by Katrina, Fire Chief Jack Langston said.

Collongues, who was traveling to a doctor’s visit in Monroe and is staying with a Waterproof, La., family for the time being, couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday.

He inspired Vidalia firefighters to ask for donations &045; and by the end of Friday afternoon locals had responded with enough items to fill the three pickup trucks.

When the Vidalia team arrived in New Orleans and unloaded supplies for rescue workers near the Superdome, they were amazed at what they saw.

They found almost 200 firefighters and other worn-out rescue workers who were working almost nonstop on very little food and water and had even been shot at on at least one occasion.

One rescue worker, Rodriguez was told, had been committed suicide.

&uot;A lot of firefighters had been there since Day One,&uot; Rodriguez said.

&uot;You see the other people on TV, but not so many of the rescue workers,&uot; Cothren said. &uot;It looked like something you’d see in a movie &045; total destruction. The people just look dazed.&uot;

Having seen what firefighters were going through firsthand has inspired the Vidalia Fire Department to do more. Personnel from that department are asking the public to drop off nonperishable food, water and toiletries at the Vidalia fire station on John Dale Drive prior to Wednesday because they plan to make the return trip Wednesday or Thursday.

In addition Rodriguez, himself an evangelist, is sending out a call for pastors to volunteer to minister to those serving in New Orleans and to the public at large to donate Bibles. &uot;Anything to give them an encouraging word,&uot; he said.

And if anyone questions why they should give to someone they don’t even know, Rodriguez has a ready answer.

If Katrina hadn’t taken a hard right, he said, &uot;it could have been us.&uot;