Page 366 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong
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 Pete Melchiori/Peterson field tech on the Camp Fire in Paradise, CA
for emergency vehicle access. “We were on the fire side of the houses so we could see it coming,” re- calls Melchiori. “You could hear propane tanks and fuel tanks blowing up and the wind kept chang- ing directions. We built about two miles of fire line before it was on us. I tried to go back the way we’d come in, but everything was fully engulfed. I turned around and saw the others going out a dif- ferent way, so I followed them, running over fences and fields. We didn’t have to actually get out and run, but it was definitely chasing us. This fire was a beast.”
THE FIRE INDUSTRY
There has been a marked increase in wildfires over the past decade in California. Many contractors in rural, fire-prone areas have built up their business- es accordingly. It has, in fact, become an industry. “I know forty customers in the Redding area alone who do this for a living,” says Jim Lanphear, Peter- son’s Redding store manager, himself an evacuee of the 2018 Carr Fire.“One customer has three dozers, three transports, thirteen water trucks, and several shower wagons. Another customer nets $100,000 a year off portable toilets. Others support CAL FIRE with dozers, generators, gray water, tires, food, and Gatorade. CDF1 doesn’t have the re- sources to do this without vendors to support them. Somebody’s got to do it. If it’s not us, then you’re
going to have people coming in from out of state to do it, because it’s a necessity.”
Peterson has been supporting its customers against wildfires since the late 1950s, when it acquired the former Sierra Tractor territory of Shasta, Trinity, Tehama, and Butte counties. That support comes through repairs and maintenance on heavy equip- ment and truck engines, emergency power genera- tion during crises, rentals to meet the demand, and humanitarian aid. Peterson is there for its custom- ers and employees affected by fire in its territory.
CAL FIRE dozer
THE CARR FIRE (JULY 2018)
The massive Carr Fire of 2018 came within a mile and a half of Peterson’s Redding store. “Once it hit Hwy 299 and jumped the river, we knew it was serious,” says Ken Waite, store manager of Cresco in Redding, which is right next door. “I knew a lot of people were going to need generators and light towers. Driving into work that day, all I could see were flames coming down the hills to the west. It was honestly one of the scariest moments of my life.”
The Carr Fire had started four days earlier on July 23 in the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, and it would eventually burn completely around the lake. The initial cause was a flat tire, which
     1 CDF, aka California Dept. of Forestry & Protection, is now called CAL FIRE.
364 | PETERSON: 85 YEARS AND GOING STRONG
 






















































































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