California Firefighter Saves Girlfriend's Family Home Even After Completing 60-Hour Shift

A California firefighter saves his girlfriend's family home after completing a 60-hour shift. He drove for 90 minutes after he received a panicky call about the blaze that approached the property.

Worked nearly three days straight

Grant Newnom had just worked for nearly three days straight in the San Jose Fire Department since Sunday. His girlfriend, Elise Jones, was panicking and called him about the scary incident. She told her boyfriend that one of the series of blazes affecting the state, the Glass Fire, was approaching her parents' home quickly.

Drove 90 minutes although he was exhausted

Newnom told KGO that he immediately drove 90 minutes to Santa Rosa even if he was exhausted from battling fires from his shift. He was hoping he could save what he could. He said that many homes were on fire when he arrived in the area.

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He recalled that he would hear propane tanks going off and would see large mushroom of clouds go off at the same time apart from seeing burning homes. Thankfully, Jones' parents' home was safe when Newnom arrived in the area.

Removed anything flammable

Newnom removed debris and cut down trees using a chainsaw that could get the house on fire. He explained that he was going to hang out and triage the house after driving there. He got rid of anything flammable and cut down trees that he could.

He told CNN that he did not plan on sticking around to face the fire on his own. Firefighters from Santa Rosa Fire Department came just in time as Newnom was preparing to escape the flames. The fire captain told Newnom that they were going to stand and fight since it was his girlfriend's family home.

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There was quite a battle

Newnom told KGO that they were all geared up and put down some hose lines and that they had quite a battle. He explained that the flames were crowning in the trees and spot fires 50 yards in front of them.

When the fire was out, some family properties got damaged, but the home survived. Newnom told the outlet that they have "landscaping of a moonscape" because there were little minor accessory buildings that got burnt down.

According to Cal Fire, the Glass Fire has burned through 48,000 acres of the California counties from Napa and Sonoma. As of Wednesday night, only two percent got contained, and authorities do not know yet what had caused it.

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Newnom explained to the outlet that he had no hesitations helping his girlfriend's family even though he had just completed a 60-hour shift. He said he would feel bad if he did not do anything because he could always catch up on his sleep some other time.