A Feather Falls man saves neighbors and helps first responders

Action News Now spoke to a man in the Feather Falls area who saved his neighbors, his own home, and cleared the road for first responders during the Bear Fire.

Today.

A feather falls man being celebrated as a hero tonight after neighbors are saying he cleared the road and helped save half a dozen people trapped during the bear fire evacuation.

Action news now reporter amy lanski shared his story of escape..

Amy lanski 00-:13 gene cardoza:13-: 25 amy lanski 1:15- 1:25 amy lanski 1:37-1:47 trt- 1:47 "i am in the feather falls area, right on rocky point and carter and you can see there is a house standing right behind me, now i spoke to that man who lives there and he was able to save some of his neighbors as well as help first responders have access to this road."

Gene cardoza explained he went outside to turn off his generator and saw the glow of the fire..

Gene: "and i thought well the fire is close to the boat ramp so i better see how close it is.

Then i got halfway down my road and the fire was on my road on both sides of the road."

Cardoza explained when he got to the boat ramp he ran into multiple neighbors.

"we got down to the water and we stayed there for about three hours, i was watching the glow move, move, and move, so it got far enough away i thought it was safe enough to come up and look."

When gene got home he saw his house was okay and headed back to the boat ramp..

He quickly realized he needed his tractor to move a tree in the way so people could leave.

"i pushed the oak tree out of the way and told them head for the bridge, there is no fire there, so that is what they did.

Jeff said where you going?

I said back home.."

Amy standup: "as you can see here this is one of the many power poles that fell across the road and gene was able to use his tractor to move them so first responders had access."

"i thought the fire trucks were going to show up so i made sure the road stayed clear all night."

Cardoza said keeping the road clear and his well safe were priorities after all his neighbors were out.

Amy close: "gene says if there were to be annother fire in this area he is not sure he would stay again.

Reporting from feather falls amy lanski action news now coverage you can count on."

Cardoza said he keeps a safe clearence around his home which helped him feel lsafer... he also says he hasn't seen all his neighbors yet, but hopes to soon.