Trained to jump off helicopters and launch early attacks on wildfires with only the tools on their backs, four firefighters took off from the Boggs Mountain Helitack Base in a Super Huey chopper Saturday during the Valley fire’s first explosive moments.
Firefighters Niko Matteoli, Richard Reiff, Logan Pridmore and Capt. Pat Ward hit the ground on the northern slope of Cobb Mountain in Lake County and went head-to-head with the fire, which would rip through more than 40,000 acres in its first eight hours.
In that first hour, the inferno’s flames overtook them, forcing the men to seek shelter in cocoon-like protective tents in a harrowing scene with fire burning all around them.
“Just four guys, they go right to the head of the fire, that’s what they’re trained to do,” said Matteoli’s grandfather, Ron Matteoli of Santa Rosa, a retired career firefighter with Cal Fire. “It was so big and explosive; They were out-gunned.”
The men suffered significant second-degree burns. The worst were sustained by their captain, Ward, who was the last to take shelter because he made sure the other firefighters were protected, according to Matteoli, who spent days at the hospital with his grandson.