Kyle Farmer, at right with wife Grace and children Walter, 5, and June, 7, works for his wife’s family’s Magruder Ranch, which specializes in grass-fed cattle and lamb.
Fires are often stopped when they reach grazed land, Farmer said, so there is an increased focus on prescribed grazing, where ranchers are paid for animals to graze the land rather than ranchers paying others for the animals to graze. Veteran firefighters Potter Valley winegrape grower Bill Pauli is a third- generation firefighter. He serves as the chief of the local department and his three sons are fellow firefighters. Pauli is following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He grew up around the firehouse and recalls riding his bicycle to visit his grandfather and later his father at the firehouse. He even went on some calls with his dad. “That is what you did in a small valley,” he said. “The siren blew and off you went; everyone had to go help.” Pauli said the Potter Valley Fire Department has a number of farmer or rancher volunteers, adding the department seeks out those with an ability to adapt and not overreact in a stressful situation. There is a strong bond formed among firefighters, who must rely on each other to do their part, Pauli said. In Southern California, rancher Anthony Stornetta of Atascadero operates a cow-calf operation with his wife, Denise. They have been ranching for 25 years and raise registered Brangus and Angus cattle in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara andMonterey counties. Stornetta is a full- time, paid battalion chief with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. “You are not stuck in an off ice, you are out in the
f ield all the time and every day is something new,” Stornetta said of his fire-service career that spans 30 years. “There’s hardly ever the same call twice, so it makes it a little dynamic.” Stornetta oversees air and wildland efforts, including operations of helicopters such as the Firehawk, a Black Hawk helicopter converted into a firefighting aircraft that carries 1,000 gallons of water. With the aircraft, he conducts many high-risk rescues and medical calls such as “putting people down on a hoist and lowering them into the canyons.” With a background in wildland firefighting, Stornetta also oversees a battalion that uses bulldozers and hand crews to reduce the threat of wildfires, and often works with farmers and ranchers to create a break between them and urban areas “so that we have a chance to stop the fire,” he said. Nevada County rancher Tom Browning said he was introduced to the f ire service while growing up on a ranch. He submitted his application as a seasonal firefighter after graduating high school and now has 40 years of experience. “I was raised around fire as a tool to clear and maintain the ground,” said Browning, a volunteer firefighter and member of a multiagency incident-management team. “I chose a career in the fire service to support my farming habit. I found it to be a great career opportunity, while still raising a few cows in the meantime.”
Christine Souza csouza@californiabountiful.com
10
March/April 2022
Powered by FlippingBook