Winters family saves property from wildfire with retired fire truck
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Winters, CA (KRCA) — A family in Winters saved their home from an incoming wildfire and lived to tell the tale.
“It was scary to walk out the front porch and see the whole hillside on fire,” recalled Kellie Neilsen, who is living on the property with her fiancé, Nick Bonovich. “Our neighbor up there was completely surrounded [by flames].”
Bonovich received a phone call from Cal Fire around 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 25, alerting him to evacuate.
“I see flames coming down, and I’m like, ‘Uh-oh, we gotta get going,'” Bonovich said. “Seeing those flames, it was kind of scary at first, but then adrenaline kicks in.”
The Bonovich ranch is surrounded by walnut orchards on two sides, and the land there is well irrigated as a result. The family maintains plenty of defensible space around the property and keeps the vegetation trimmed down with the help of grazing cattle.
The night of the fire, the Bonovich men — father Greg and two sons Nick and Jake — sprang into action, hosing back the flames with water pulled from a newly installed 2,500-gallon tank and mopping up hot spots with an old fire truck Greg Bonovich acquired online. After nearly seven hours of work, the men saved the property.
“Just having so many fires around here, you kind of just get used to it,” Jake Bonovich said. “It’s like living in the Midwest and getting a tornado, you know.”
After successfully saving their home, the family acquired on Sunday a second fire truck that can hold up to 1,200 gallons of water and the sirens still work.
“We have a lot of history with this place and our kids growing up here, so that was really important to us to keep that,” said mother Kristine Bonovich.
The value of the ranch is priceless to the family.
“I’m happy to be here,” Kristine Bonovich added. “I have two trucks that will save us if we need to fight another fire.”
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