The Hollister School District recently honored two custodians who helped to quell a fire in a park adjacent to Calaveras School.
Director of Facilities John Teliha commended Jesse Ortiz and Jose Delgado for the effort during a fire July 13. At about 9 a.m. that day, Ortiz put in a call to the facilities department about a fire set to the gazebo at Calaveras Park next to the school.
Ortiz and Delgado noticed smoke coming from the picnic area and thought it was possibly someone setting up for a cookout of some kind.
“Then they realized this was not the case and found that there was a fire within the gazebo itself,” Teliha told trustees at the July 24 board meeting.
The lead custodian dialed 911 while the other retrieved a fire extinguisher from the school library and attempted to put it out.
“The fire was unfortunately much larger and grew quicker than the custodian was able to keep up with,” the facilities director said.
But it gave Hollister Fire Department crews just enough time to arrive and put out the fire with minimal damage.
The district at the meeting commended the two custodians with a certificate.
