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2007 California Wildfires

Rottweilers too mean to evacuate

By Richard Marosi
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Ramona:

When Bob Gogola left his home outside Ramona on Sunday, he was sure he would never see it again. The 74-year-old Korean War veteran took off in his van and slept the night in the Kmart parking lot in Ramona. He left behind two Rottweilers that he said were too mean to get into the van.

When he tried to get to his house Monday, the road was blocked with embers, logs and trees, some burning. Walking up the dirt road, he saw his neighbor’s stucco home burning out of control. Two firefighters from the city of San Mateo in Northern California, Capt. Greg Campbell and firefighter Michael Ramsey, escorted Gogola, who was walking with a cane. The firefighters seemed exhausted after going 24 hours without sleep.

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Gogola came around the bend and was overjoyed to find his modest home had been spared. ‘Hey, look at that, it’s my adobe hacienda,’ joked Gogola. ‘God, you guys are good. Which one of you guys want a hug?’

-- Richard Marosi

2007 California Wildfires
Richard Marosi

Richard Marosi is a former Metro editor for the Los Angeles Times. He previously reported from the U.S.-Mexico border. Marosi was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2015 for his series on Mexican laborers and in 2013 for his stories on the fate of thousands of immigrants who were deported from the U.S. to Mexico in recent years. He has delved deeply into Mexico’s drug wars, producing a groundbreaking series on the Sinaloa cartel and sharing an Overseas Press Club Award in 2009. In the early 2000s, his corruption investigations in Southeast Los Angeles County contributed to the indictment or ouster of a dozen politicians and city officials. Marosi is a Southern California resident but remains loyal to the Giants, 49ers and Warriors of his native San Francisco Bay Area.

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