The devastating impact of the statewide wildfires prompted Dan Piro and his senior community to give back.
Piro, the community manager of The Fountains at Alluvial, took action after he felt the need to help the cause.
“From watching on TV, I saw the firefighters were in need of support and water,” Piro said. “So I just put a sign up asking residents if they could donate and water started coming in the door.”
Piro posted the announcement in early August and a week and a half later, he had 80 cases in his office. It didn’t stop there. By the Aug. 15 deadline, the community reached the 100 mark.
On Thursday, Piro’s maintenance staff delivered the cases to the Clovis Fire Department Logistics Center on Fowler and Bullard avenues. From there, firefighters unloaded the cases and stored them in the facility.
“Donations like this are always appreciated, especially when they come from a good community partner like The Fountains,” said Chad Fitzgerald, public information officer with Clovis Fire Department. “Seeing the senior residents give back like this is heartwarming, and something we really appreciate.”
The water will be used a number of different ways. It could be distributed locally or around the state, depending on the most urgent need.
“When we go on scene as part of a local fire, it could be used as part of the rehabilitation for our firefighters as they rotate in and out of a fire,” said Fitzgerald. “It could also go out as part of a strike team that gets assigned to some of these large complex fires throughout the state. It could even be used when a family is displaced as a result of fire.”
Clovis Fire Department currently has about a dozen personnel assigned to fires throughout the state, including the Carr and Ferguson fires.