Page 373 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong
P. 373

the hills burning on the other side of 101, about a mile to the east.”
The National Guard took up residence in Peter- son’s backyard on the third day. “They had sixty to seventy personnel here, all armed with M16s,” re- calls Smith. “They were stationed in our yard for about a week until they moved down to Ghilotti Construction’s yard—a much larger, more central space. But they had their trucks set up in our back- yard initially, and cots and tents. We moved all our equipment off the concrete pad to make room for them.”
Peterson’s Santa Rosa shop was full for months after the Tubbs Fire. “Multiple machines either rolled over or broke down during the fire, so we were constantly out there,” recalls Smith. “Peterson gave more fire support than any other local deal- er. There is no one else in our community, or even in the Bay Area, who could handle the amount of equipment and repairs that were needed. When somebody lost an engine, our shop worked over- time to get it done. Same with our truck shop.”
Once people had a day or two to react, compa- nies like Ghilotti Construction and Team Ghilotti
started pulling their equipment and operators off jobsites and redirecting them to the fire. Ghilotti Construction spent a lot of time building fire lines near Sears Point on Hwy 37. Glen Ghilotti, of Team Ghilotti, was over in Rohnert Park building firebreaks.
“When the fire hit, we started sending water trucks out to subdivisions around Santa Rosa and letting employees take water buffalos home to protect their properties and neighborhoods,” says Kevin Ghilotti. “After that, we started gearing up for the cleanup. We tooled up fast, purchasing and leasing skid steers and excavators as fast as Peterson could get them to us. Dispatch was intense.”
   Top to bottom: Team Ghilotti geared up with skid steers and excavators for the cleanup effort; Peterson’s Santa Rosa shop was fully involved in the fire-fighting effort, with repairs to fire trucks and fire dozers.
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