Hero
Gage Randel Guardiola
Gunnar and Gannon spent most of their days together in the summer days in their mountain town. Out in the mountain canyon is where they lived, away from the city surrounded by wildlife. Although there is 6 years of an age difference between the two of them, it couldn’t make a difference in how close they are as siblings. During the summer days their father would assign the each of them several chores they had to out on the property. Sometimes it would consist of cleaning their father construction equipment, cleaning the garage or yard, or using the equipment to do any type of small job he might need them to do. On this one particular summer day, the two young boys were doing their daily chores, Gannon was cutting tree into respected logs, while Gunnar was cleaning the garage. As each of them are doing their chores they hear their father’s diesel truck driving on the gravel in the distance. They both knew something was not right because the father never comes home in the middle of the day. As he gets out his vehicle, they can see something had happened or has happened just by his demeanor and body language. As he approached his two sons, he tells them that a fire started in the mountains and is heading towards their home. He says they may have 3-4 hours until the fire will be on the porch of their household. The father is extremely worried because he just finished building their house himself just 15 months earlier. He instructs both of the boys to get in two the piece of equipment and to begin operating them. The father instructed them to create a fire line around the perimeter of the house. It would be a difficult task to do with the three of them due to the size of the house and how quickly the fire was moving. Without any type of hesitation, the young boys hopped in the equipment and began to work. Operating each of their pieces of equipment faster then they have ever before even with their limited experience, they begin to make solid progress. The fire is now only 30 mins away and is nearly visible on the other side of the canyon. Their father happened to own a water truck due to him owning his own construction company and began to spread water around the fire line. The house is surround by a huge circle wall of dirt that consists of a height of roughly 4ft. The fire begins to approach the household and is immediately halted by the dirt fire line. The fire begins to circle the house, but it is not breaking the barrier. It begins to appear that the house might make it. As soon as they began to think that the fire was about to pass, A tree falls right on a portion of the barrier allowing the fire to sneak through the barrier and start to head towards the house. The father notices and realizes that only chance he has is to put dirt on the fire. He hops into his excavator(tractor) and begins put dirt on the burning tree and fire that is slowly making its way towards the house. As time passes, he slows the fire down from moving forward but the fire begins to get hotter. The two boys are helping as well, but by hand using a shovel and water hose from the water truck spraying down the trail of fired heat. As the fire heat continues to increase, the health of the father and the two boys begins to come at a high risk, The father tells the two boys to hop in the truck and try to get to safety while he tries to stop the fire from spreading one more time. The boys tell there fther no and beg him to stay but the two boys always obey there father no matter the circumstances. They leave with the home knowing that they may not see their father or the house ever again. The father continues to fight the spread but has to exit the excavator and use the water hose. As the fire approaches the father can no longer take the heat and faits to the ground. As soon as the father approaches three fire trucks approach the household and immediately start to get the fire to vanquish. The fire fighters find the father but realize it is too late. He passed due to the overwhelming amount of heat.
The two boys head back towards the property and celebrate as they realize their home is going to be okay and their father is the unquestioned hero of the day. They do not celebrate for too long as they realize that their father is nowhere in sight. The fire fighter tells them that there father did not make it. They immediately fall apart hugging each other. They mourn for several months but began to move as they get older and take over the company. They lost their hero that day while he was being hero.
The two boys head back towards the property and celebrate as they realize their home is going to be okay and their father is the unquestioned hero of the day. They do not celebrate for too long as they realize that their father is nowhere in sight. The fire fighter tells them that there father did not make it. They immediately fall apart hugging each other. They mourn for several months but began to move as they get older and take over the company. They lost their hero that day while he was being hero.
Gage Guardiola is a college sophomore, from Ruidoso, New Mexico.