Firefighters sworn to protect fall victim to historic wildfires

“We’ve been on that property for 17 years so we’re familiar with fire season. Working on the farm, we’ve watched fires travel towards us. That part of that area … has burned the past four of five years,” recounted Hawkins. “[We thought] oh it’s burning OK, we’d have days before we had to be worried. It started at 11 a.m. and at midnight our neighbor called and said ‘it’s getting bad, you should think about going.’” 

By the time Hawkins and Pestana packed their suitcases, loaded their truck and scanned the progress of the fire to the west, the flames of the LNU Lightning Complex erupted in the north. Hawkins described the sound as a terrifying roar and said the flames quickly closed in on three sides of their home, leaving only their driveway clear to exit. Now she and her husband are faced with figuring out their next steps, said Hawkins. 

“There are so many decisions to make and it’s like OK, you have to decide what is the rest of your life going to be. There’s very divergent paths here and it’s a lot to think about,” said Hawkins. “Your emotions are so raw. … It takes more mental energy than you have. We lost our house, our barn, our breeding farm. Our goats are my main source of livelihood.” 

Now staying with friends, Hawkins and Pestana have had time to assess the damage left behind. Amongst the rubble, over 30 of their livestock survive but Hawkins is unsure of what will happen with the remaining animals.

“Maybe it’s time to move on from the goats. I don’t know but my husband was a firefighter before and he’s still a firefighter now,” said Hawkins.  

While she and her husband reassess their farming future and consider the possibility of rebuilding, community members have contributed to an online donation site for their Vacaville-based Castle Rock Farm which has now reached nearly $41,000. 

“You got neighbors helping neighbors here. No region has a monopoly on good people,” said Hawkins.  

Bits of hope

When Carlos Carpenter, a Menlo Park firefighter of four years, first got news his parent’s home was under threat by fast moving flames, his mind went to work assessing the danger. Two hours before the Waddell Creek area was put on a mandatory evacuation notice Aug. 18, Carpenter told his parents to leave quickly, a decision he said he’s thankful he made. 

“We were talking back and forth about where the fire was … and knowing about fire behavior, even though it was at the bottom of the canyon, I told them to evacuate and [the fire] ended up running a lot faster, moved a lot faster than we thought,” said Carpenter, a Santa Cruz resident. 

At 23-years-old, he said he felt confident his training as a firefighter engineer prepared him to provide crucial guidance to his parents, one of the over 70,000 CZU Lightning Complex evacuees. Though trained to handle tragic moments brought on by raging flames, Carpenter said losing the home he grew up in still felt brutal. 

“It’s definitely different when it’s close to home, but at the same time I’m a fireman and so is my little brother. Us knowing the severity of how close it was getting, I find having the knowledge helped, but it’s different when it hits so close to home,” said Carpenter, whose 20-year-old brother is a volunteer firefighter in Santa Cruz County. 

While losing their home of 25 years has been heartbreaking for the Carpenters, the firefighter said he and his family have found the hope to push forward following numerous community donations to a GoFundMe account published by fellow firefighter Kevin White. 

“With Kevin making the GoFundMe and people reaching out to make sure we’re OK, it has been humbling and I appreciate every little bit of it. It’s blown me away,” said Carpenter. “They gave us that bit of hope and we have that fund that makes rebuilding a reality.” 

White attributed much of the generosity to a feeling of family felt amongst firefighters. The fund to help the Carpenters rebuild their home has far surpassed the original goal of $25,000, now reaching nearly $45,000.

“For ourselves as firefighters, we have close connections with individuals we work with. Carlos grew up in that area, grew up surfing on the coast. So I called him and was thinking how are they going to rebuild, and thought the best way to do that was with a GoFundMe,” said White, an engineer with the Menlo Park Fire District. 

Endless online fundraisers 

Several other online fundraisers have seen similar success as organizations and communities aim to provide financial assistance to firefighters and their families. Two firefighters of the Woodside Firefighters Association have seen an outpouring of community following tragedies similar to Carpenters.  

As of Tuesday night, over $30,000 had been raised in support of retired Woodside firefighter Brian Schindler and his family after their home in Boulder Creek and vehicle were claimed by the flames caused by dry-lightning storms over a week ago. Schindler was with the Woodside Fire Protection District for 30 years before retiring in December of last year. 

Chris Wels, a Woodside firefighter paramedic of six years, has also received community support to help his parents rebuild their family home in Boulder Creek after losing the structure to flames. Also serving as a captain for the Boulder Creek Volunteer Fire Department, Wels has spent much of his time off duty fighting the fire threatening the area. 

Quickly after learning of how the fires claimed both family homes, Woodside Fire captains Sean Devlin and Jonathan Francisco launched the fundraisers. Like Carpenter, Francisco said responding to incidents of tragedy as a firefighter doesn’t take away how sentimental the loss can be when it happens to one of the department’s own.

“It is personal. I think as firefighters we unfortunately know the harsh realities because we respond to them but it doesn’t take away the sting when it’s someone we know. It’s tragic for firefighters in the area,” said Francisco. “Sean and I wanted to get out there that Brian and Chris are just two stories amongst a lot of these things happening to people. We appreciate people’s benevolence. ... Those who want to donate should check in with their communities to make sure something similar hasn’t happened to them.” 

John Wurdinger, the president of San Mateo County Firefighters IAFF Local 2400, estimated over 50 of the nearly 550 firefighters and paramedics represented by the union have received evacuation orders or warnings. 

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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