VIDEO: Firefighter surprises daughter after 13-day deployment to historic California fires

Wednesday, October 21, 2020
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Sweet video shows the moment when a firefighter surprises his daughter after returning home from being deployed to one of the largest California wildfires ever.

The August Complex Fire started in August. It has burned more than 1,000,000 acres, destroyed 160 structures and killed one person.

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Josh Padron works for the San Jose Fire Department. He has spent his summer, like many other firefighters, working long hours away from his family.

He deployed for 14 days straight to the North Complex Fire. Then spent two days at home with his family before being shipped to the August Complex Fire for 13 days.



Every day his 10-year-old daughter, Elianah, kept asking him, "When are you coming home?"

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So Padron and his wife planned a surprise for her. They caught it all on camera.



Padron said he wants to highlight that the unsung heroes of these fires are the wives and family members "holding everything together" while firefighters are out in the trenches. His time at the fires was as a PIO trainee.


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