Global non-profit helps California man who lost home in Park and Camp Fires
FOREST RANCH, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - A global non-profit is helping a man recover memories lost after his home burned in both the Park Fire and the Camp Fire.
Volunteers from Team Rubicon came to Forest Ranch, California to help Rick Pero and his wife find memorable items, including their cat, Catmandu.
The nonprofit had volunteers from places as far and close as Half Moon Bay, Dixon and Redding. Their work began at 8:00am Saturday morning.
Pero said during their search, volunteers helped bring closure to Pero and his wife on their search to find their cat, who went through the Camp Fire beside them.
"There was a chair that he would love to hide under because he was a little shy. They sure enough found that he was probably curled up there. We get to let him go and get closure for that and appreciate the years that we had him and now he's at peace," Pero shared.
Pero also explained why both Catmandu and their other cat, Riley, mean so much to both him and his wife.
"He had a pretty crazy life. Both our cats were rescue cats and he had been found under Scotty's out there and we found him at the Humane Society and he just hugged us. He was family. Neither my wife or I had kids, so he was our youngest little fur-kid. Our fur-boy," Pero spoke.
Matthew Henderson, the Norcal Communications Lead for Team Tubicon, said he heard Pero's story about losing his two homes close to six years, and he, along with nine other volunteers, wanted to help Pero.
"I kind of immediately jumped on and sent it up the Team Rubicon chain of command and said, 'Hey I found an opportunity that is very very important and I would like to get out here and help this one person.' A lot of times when were responding. We just did an operation up and Grizzly Flats we were up there for 30 days. We had 70 people a day and they came from all over the country. We help a lot of people. Sometimes it's just being able to help one person at a time and this was one of those times where I felt Rick and his wife really needed the help."
Matthew Henderson, Team Rubicon Norcal Communications Lead
Pero and his wife say they aren't the only ones who suffered the loss of both of their homes.
Their neighbors on both sides also lost their homes in the Camp Fire nearly six years ago.
Henderson said volunteers are working to find important items, for example, a memento from the home in the Camp Fire.
"There's a mass of silver coins that they had in a bag at their house in Paradise. The silver coins melted together into a clump around a piece of pipe. They kept that as a memento from their house," Henderson added.
Henderson also said they had a successful day of finding important items such as jewelry, and silver coins, and said the work he along with thousands of volunteers do is funded through grants and community donations.
