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Fighting fires in La Colonia

GABRIEL RAMIREZ
Más staff    
As a kid growing up in Oxnard, Dan Gonzalez remembers how he admired the firefighters in his neighborhood, waving to them as they passed by in their long ladder trucks.   
Now it’s his turn to be a role model as the leader of Fire Station 41, the Virginia Colony, in La Colonia, one of the oldest Latino working-class neighborhoods in Bakersfield.
“There were no Hispanic firemen that I recall, but I knew I wanted to be one,” he said. “When children in the neighborhood ask me to honk the horn, I honk it. I used to be that kid that would ask the passing firemen to honk the horn.”  
In Fire Station 41, which has been in the neighborhood since 1966, five of the six firefighters are Hispanic.  They say their ability to speak Spanish and understand the neighborhood culture has helped them to better serve the community.
The firefighters of the station say they use Spanish on average 50 percent of the time when going out on a call. The neighborhood is not complete Spanish speaking. It was given the name La Colonia in the ‘60s and is made up of a mix of first and second generation Hispanics. The stations boundaries span from Weedpatch Highway on the east side to Cottonwood Road on the west side and from Edison Highway on the north side to Hermosa Road on the south side.
With 45 fire stations in the county how did five Hispanic firemen end up together in this neighborhood?
“We didn’t choose to work together in this area, but we all get along, and I personally think it is cool that we are Hispanic,” said Cpt. Dan Gonzalez, who has been working at the station for a year. “It is a privilege to work in this station and with this community.”
A familiar setting
For some of the firemen like Gonzalez La Colonia reminds them of their roots.
“I grew up in a colonia like this one,” he said. “This community is interesting. It reminds me of where I grew up, which was not a yuppie money community. I grew up with the ‘raza’.”
Gonzalez feels the community he works in not only reminds him of his roots but allows him to appreciate how far he has come.
Today Gonzalez feels he has some positive effect on the neighborhood kids like firemen did on him.
The fire station also participates in Fire Safety Week in March where the firemen go out to the neighborhood schools and talk to children in Spanish and English about fire safety.
“We promote safety and being able to serve this community is great,” Gonzalez said. “I like working in this community because I can use my Spanish. Here I feel like I am able to make a bigger difference.”
Others like firemen Eddie Martinez, 29-years-old, actually grew up in “La Colonia.”
Martinez has been a firemen for four years and has worked at the Virginia Colony for a year. He remembers growing up in “La Colonia” going to La Colonia Restaurant on Potomac Ave. to play Pacman and riding his bike to the Virginia Colony to get air put in his tires.
“Kids still do that these days. They go to the firestation to get their tires filled,” Martinez said. “It is so real being on the other side of things.”
Martinez said he wanted to give back to his community and that is why he became a firemen and more specifically why he chose to work at the Virginia Colony.
“I wanted to come back and work here and give back to the community in which I grew up in,” he said. “I am glad I get to use my skills, my understanding of the culture and my Spanish language to help out the community.”
Serving the community
And while not all the members of the shift might have grown up in the similar environments they do feel a connection to the neighborhood, even those who do not share the language.
Jeff Tape said he not only enjoys being a firemen because it is what he always wanted to do, but now he also gets to learn Spanish and about the Hispanic culture from his fellow firemen and the community.
“Speaking Spanish really comes in handy, especially working with this community,” said Cpt. Gilbert Tinoco. Tinoco graduated from Foothill High School in 1979 and said he grew up knowing that being a firefighter was what he wanted to do.
Gloria Romero, a resident of “La Colonia” for 33 years, saw the firemen in action last year during a rainstorm when a young Hispanic girl was hit by a car. The driver of the car was Hispanic and didn’t speak English she said. Romero made the call to get medical help.
“The firemen showed up and translated what the driver was saying to the cops,” she said. “They helped calm the driver down and were just a great benefit for everyone.”
Efren Padilla had an even closer encounter.
Padilla has lived in the neighborhood for 29 years.
“One day I had an asthma attack and couldn’t breathe,” he said. “The firemen arrived to help and they not only helped me but they understood me.”
But the firemen do much more than help those in need. Just ask the teachers at the Bakersfield Apostolic Faith Academy, which is right behind the firestation.
Every year the kindergarten and first-grade students in Sister Margaret Ayala’s class take a tour of the firestation where they learn about fire safety.
“The students love it and they get so excited about it,” said Misty Garcia, a teacher’s aid.
The school has been taking its young students to the firestation for the past 22 years, Garcia said.
“I think it is a great benefit for us to have the firestation right next door and even a greater benefit for this community to be able to have firemen they can communicate with,” Garcia said.
The daily routine
The Virginia Colony is located at the corner of Virginia Avenue and Mt. Vernon Avenue among empty lots, a church and a few blighted buildings.
With alarms always blazing, communication coming through the intercom and the firemen always on the go it is difficult to get a moment when the firemen are just lounging around.
Despite the couple of homies used for decoration near a dry erase board and the occasional Mexican meal, the firemen’s culture is not easily observed.
But it is there.
“We are proud to be Hispanic, but when we work we consider ourselves all the same. We are all firemen,” Gonzalez said.
The firemen of the Virginia Colony share more than language, they also bond outisde the station at Raider games, golf tournaments and they even go eat at Rigo’s Tacos on Edison Highway.
Besides going out to more than 25 calls a day on average, the firemen of the Virginia Colony have a daily routine which consists of chores, cooking, exercise and training.
When the crew comes on for their shift they first check all of their equipment and then proceed to clean the station.
The crew then typically goes out to exercise in the morning and then out for breakfast.
Meetings and a variety of training sessions follow.
And when the firemen get hungry, the one chosen to cook for that shift must prepare a few hearty meals.
The members of the A-Shift cook a diversity of foods but their Hispanic backgrounds are seen on the days when rice, beans, enchiladas and chile verde appear on the plate.
“I personally find myself asking cultural questions and trying to learn more of the language,” said Cpt. Greg Black of the C-Shift.
While for most people a good dinner would signify the end of the day, that is not the case for these firemen who are on the job for 48 hour shifts.
Many of the firemen have families who they must sacrifice spending time with.
“During some holidays or birthdays we do have the family come over briefly so we can see them,” Gonzalez said. “Although we do lose sometime with them, and even sometimes we have to miss our own anniversaries, we make up the time other days. Like we said it all comes with the job.”
Gonzalez said he often has to miss his daughter’s soccer games.
“Families are important to all of us, but having to sacrifice some time is part of being a firemen,” Gonzalez said.
When the job is said and done Gonzalez said he wants the community to know what it is the firemen of the Virginia Colongy do.
“I want the people of this community to know that in the time of need the personnel at this station will get the job done,” Gonzalez said. “We  will do what we can for this community.”