Johnathan Tehan and his family were on a camping trip about six and a half hours from home when the Park Fire in Northern California started in July. He received a notice about the fire and began communicating with his fellow firefighters back home on the hills of Cohasset.
After more discussion and weather assessment, they determined that the fire was dangerous.
“My family wanted to come over, and I personally didn’t want the kids to have to come over and leave vacation and stare at our town burning down,” Tehan told The Epoch Times. “So I waited for everybody to go to sleep because they made it very clear to me they were going to come with me if I left. ... I kind of snuck out in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep.”
Tehan joined the Butte County Fire Department about three years ago as a volunteer and was promoted to captain about a year and a half ago. When duty calls, he makes an effort to do what he can.
During the Park Fire, he first dropped by his house to pick up his firefighting gear before rushing off to help the town.
“I actually was in my house, walked through my house, and the only things that I did was shut the windows and move the propane cylinders away from the house. Other than that, all I grabbed was my fire gear,” Tehan said. “I had every opportunity at my house. I could have drove a vehicle up the hill, I could have grabbed any of my items. It wasn’t even a thought that crossed my mind to grab or do anything other than to get my fire gear.”
About two or three hours later when he was in town, his house perished in the fire, he said. He lived there with his girlfriend and two children. His brother and his son, who recently moved from Nevada, also lived with them. Tehan bought a new camp trailer a few months ago, but it burned in the fire.
“We lost a large portion of our town. But the heart of the town made it,” he said.
The town of Cohasset lost almost everything to the east, he said. However, he said the local store, fire station, community center, and an unused school survived, along with a number of homes.
He said neither his brother nor his girlfriend had any insurance, and he only had a small personal property insurance policy, but it would not cover the costs to rebuild.
Now they live in an apartment and are trying to adjust. His brother has started a new job, and the children are starting to get ready to go back to school. While there is some excitement in living somewhere new, they do miss their familiar community and friends.
“For me personally, I really would rather be on the hill up in Cohasset at whatever cost. I would sleep in the tent just to be up there. I don’t like being down here in town,” Tehan said.
He said he’s been driving up to the hills every day since, for his mental health.
His father, also a firefighter, lost his home to the fire too.
“A lot of us don’t have homes. We’re either in trailers or apartments or tents, so we don’t have anywhere to put all these clothes or furniture or any of the items,” he said. “And so people are going to have to either throw them away or give them away.”
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