08:13 PM CST on Friday, December 23, 2005

By Doug Miller / 11 News

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Houston firefighters will tell you it's one of the best parts of their job, giving out toys to needy families before Christmas.

Most years, the toy giveaway is a smashing success, but no one could have predicted what happened this year.

This was the Christmas rush in the Fifth Ward.

KHOU-TV

Parents lined up the night before to get toys from HFD.

When asked how long she had been waiting, "Since last night. About 11:30," parent Jackie Moffitt said.

By 11 o'clock Friday morning, the sidewalks were mobbed.

The line wrapped around Pleasant Hill Academy Elementary School, the streets crowded with cars and children.

"Two girls, two boys," said the person at the door.

For the first in line, it was worth the wait.

"Can't even pay the rent or anything else. I've got to have something for my babies," Jonda Wyrick said.

"There is no guarantee that everybody will get a bike," said one of the volunteers.

But as the first parents picked up the first batches of free gifts, the crowd outside turned ugly.

"You had people come up here at 1:00 in the morning," said one frustrated parent.

Some people who'd stayed out here all night got angry.

Police kept the crowd back and volunteers told everybody to form a single line.

"If you don't, we'll close it down. We'll call the fire department. We'll close it down," said a volunteer.

These are the gifts people dropped off at Houston fire stations. They arrived here by the truckload ... hauled by volunteers. Lorugene Young, Outreach Program, Inc.

"This is my Christmas, because I have not gone out and spent one cent on myself. My money's going to pay for the U-Hauls and everything else," said Lorugene Young, Outreach Program, Inc.

Despite all the hassle, the moms and the dads who waited so long to get here were just glad they had something to give their kids for Christmas.

"Thank you." "Thank you. Y'all have a Merry Christmas," said one parent who was successful.