Cape Coral firefighter helps fight massive California wildfire

Reporter: Dannielle Garcia
Published: Updated:
IAFF Disaster Relief Go Team members: 10th District Vice President Frank Lima, Larry Petrick (Shaker Heights, OH Local 516) and Erik Chudzik (Cape Coral, FL Local 2424) on the frontlines of the California wildfires. (International Association of Fire Fighters Facebook page)

Right now in California, firefighters are dealing with yet another massive wildfire near Los Angeles.

More than 8,700 acres have burned since late Thursday night. Two homes have been destroyed and thousands more are in danger.

Among those helping to try and get the upper hand is Cape Coral Firefighter Eric Chudzik.

He’s among the thousands of firefighters battling the so-called “Maria” fire.

“I mean we had a large brush fire in the Cape years ago and it was 1,000 acres and that looks like a campfire compared to what they get out here,” he said.

For the past week, Chudzik has been there by their side fighting the flames and seeing the destruction first-hand.

I have a newfound respect for them, actually, that they do an unbelievable job here. We were standing on the freeway and we watched the fire jump over the highway into a residential neighborhood and in a matter of minutes you had every apparatus that was in the area. They actually put a stop to it. Otherwise, the neighborhood would’ve burned up.

Chudzik is one of four members on the ground with the International Firefighters Association’s “Go Team.”

“So when natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods happen, our members are taking care of the public,” said Chudzik. “So we wanted to make an effort to assure them that they’re being taken care of in their own backyard.”

He says so far, nearly 200 firefighters have had their homes damaged or reached out for help. And the Go Team still has more ground to cover.

Right now, Chudzik isn’t sure when he’ll get to return to Cape Coral given the number of fires and how they continue to spread.

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