Page 375 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

diligent job.” Collectively, 2.2 million tons of con- crete, dirt, and toxic debris were removed from properties across Sonoma, Napa, and Lake coun- ties totaling $1.3 billion. At the time, the US Government Accountability Office cited it as the largest disaster cleanup in California since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
All that cleanup required massive amounts of equipment and manpower. At one point, Peterson had three dozen skid steers sold and lined up in the Santa Rosa yard, waiting to be picked up. Between fire equipment in for repairs and new machines for the cleanup, the store was incredibly busy. “I think we cleaned out the entire company on skid steers, and thumbs and multi-purpose buckets for skid steers,” says King. “We sold an insane amount of equipment for that fire.”
At the peak of the cleanup, there were nine- ty-five crews at Coffey Park alone—each consist- ing of five people, one large 320-size excavator, a 299-size skid steer, and a water truck. The first three months were pretty chaotic until they got into a routine. ECC was hiring all the trucking instead of each sub-contractor hiring their own. According to Smith,“it was like filling a five-gallon bucket with a five-thousand-gallon water truck. It was just crazy.”They generated one million dollars’ worth of dump fees a day at the Mecham Road County Landfill in Cotati. Trucks were lined up for miles just trying to get in. It took four hours to do the six-mile roundtrip to the landfill and back. The last truckload of debris headed for the landfill in June 2018.
COMMUNITY HOLIDAY OUTREACH (2017)
A deep sense of community was evident during that time. The notion of competition was thrown out the window.“The lines of communication were opened between all parties,” recalls Kevin Ghilotti, a fourth-generation Ghilotti in the construction industry and son of Glen Ghilotti. “We were all
Top to bottom: Thanksgiving meal for relief workers of Coffey Park; Team Ghilotti pulled out all the stops to make the Holidays special for the community in November-December 2017
just trying to take care of the community.” The Ghilotti’s catered a turkey-and-the-works spread for 500 Coffey Park workers on Thanksgiving Day at ECC’s rented storage facility. “They sent crews over, blocks at a time, and fed people,” recalls Kev- in Ghilotti. “Glen was a big part of that.”
Christmas at Coffey Park that year was another big show of solidarity. “I remember Glen calling me late one night to bring the drone down to Cof- fey Park,” says Kevin Ghilotti. “He wanted to make sure you could see the Christmas lights they were putting up all over. He got Christmas trees donat- ed and somebody else to bring in snow. They had popcorn machines and hayrides in Glen’s antique truck. They had a toy drive and people caroling through the neighborhood. He planned this whole thing in two days. When Glen gets an idea in his mind, he doesn’t settle down until it’s done. That year, Christmas was definitely above and beyond.”
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