Photo By Keith Hayes | Firefighter Robert Moir, Captain John Torgeson, Lt. Nathan Beber and Firefighter...... read more read more
A Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif., fire crew sent to help put out one of the destructive California wildfires recently is getting a personal thank you from one person whose home they saved.
Fire Captain John Torgeson, Lt. Nathan Beber, and firefighters ScottyTorres and Robert Moir were sent up to the Napa Complex fire in Northern California in mid-October. This area is home to the picturesque and fabled wine country where thousands of acres of rolling hills are covered by vineyards.
It was also the scene of the destructive Napa Lake Unit fire. All told, the blazes that raged across the state would be described as the most destructive and deadliest series of fires ever in the Golden State. Information from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection indicates at least 42 people died in the fires, another 100,000 thousand were displaced, more than 160,000 acres of land were charred and more than 8,400 homes and other structures were destroyed by the flames.
Torgeson said his crew joined with more than 4,000 other firefighters from across the state and the Midwest, even firefighters from Australia, who laboriously dug the fire lines and battled the flames, in the process
saving hundreds of houses and other buildings.
Virginia and James Wright don’t own a vineyard or an expensive home, just a modest house on Redwood Road in Napa, Calif. “We’ve lived in this house 30 years,” Virginia Wright said. “We raised our children here and now their children come up and visit us.”
“I was just cleaning my bathroom,” she explained, “and I was thinking how happy I was to be doing that because our house wasn’t burned, thanks to the fire crew from the Barstow Marine Base, Engine Company
402.” Wright said she and her husband had also sent a card to the engine
company expressing their thanks:
“A few weeks ago a huge fire engulfed our area, and I understand the crew of Engine 402 from Barstow came to help fight it. Words cannot express our gratitude to you for saving our home. My husband built our house on Redwood Road by hand thirty years ago and we have raised our family here. We thank you so much for risking your lives to save it for us.”
A few simple handwritten words from someone profoundly affected by the efforts of the men from Engine Company 402, firefighters who have had others thank them at one time or another in their careers for their lifesaving efforts.
“We don’t take those thanks for granted,” Torgeson said. “Sometimes we get so busy doing our job we don’t really have time to put a face to the homes and businesses we’re working to protect.”
Moir said one of the toughest things about being a firefighter, especially on a big blaze like the Napa fire, is when local residents touch their hearts with their losses.
“People approach us and they’re super thankful, but they lost their house,” he said. “We don’t just want to do our jobs but we want to help people too. So when someone tells us they lost their house after asking for our help, that’s one of the most difficult aspects of this job.”
Lieutenant Beber said the men on the engine crew, as do all firefighters working for the Marine Base, don’t want to sit idle while fires rage. They are dedicated, hard-working and want to be busy doing something, anything, for which they have trained continuously.
Torgeson echoed those sentiments.
“For us, we love doing our jobs. There’s very few greater thrills in this world, other than Jesus Christ, outside of that, it’s one of the best things there is.'
| Date Taken: | 11.09.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 11.13.2017 13:16 |
| Story ID: | 255161 |
| Location: | MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 66 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, A word of thanks to MCLBB firefighters, by Keith Hayes, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
