COSTA MESA : Firefighters End Chilling Charity Stint

Jim Aldrich had spent more than four days fighting rain, hail, wind and below-freezing temperatures to raise money for the Orange County Burn Assn. His Coke was frozen solid overnight, his umbrella broken by the winds. So after returning to earth Sunday, what’s the first thing the Orange County firefighter wanted to do? Why, grab something cold, of course. Like a chilled, celebratory bottle of champagne. To douse over the head of his fund-raising buddy.

“Just what I needed--to be wet right now,” said a shivering Joe Cucinotti, Aldrich’s partner in cold, as the bubbly threatened to turn to frost on his drenched body.

From last Wednesday until 5 p.m. Sunday, Aldrich and Cucinotti made their home on a Costa Mesa firetruck, sleeping precariously on the fire ladder, which was flattened into a horizontal position. Their meals were sent up to them while they were in a snorkel basket-turned-dining room and the two men used a megaphone to solicit contributions for the burn association from people below at the county fairgrounds.

“We couldn’t have planned it worse,” groaned Aldrich. The Arctic chill that invaded the Southland beginning last week not only lowered their body temperatures, but reduced their expected take in contributions as well.

The two firefighters, both 30, had been shooting for $50,000 in contributions, but instead got just over $30,000, as turnout at fairground events, such as the weekend swap meet suffered because of the cold.

“We were looking for 50 (thousand dollars) but the weather really stopped us,” said Cucinotti, a member of the Fountain Valley Fire Department.

Sue Cronin, executive director of the burn association, said of the lower-than-expected donations: “It just means we’ll have to have another fund-raiser much sooner than we thought.” The money raised by the firefighters will go toward research, therapy, camps and surgical procedures for some of the more than 700 local residents burned every year in fires.

During their stay on the truck, the two men said they sometimes ventured up and down its ladder to keep warm and to get supplies from relatives and friends. But they said that as pledged, they never left the truck.

“We challenged anyone to come and check up on us here at any time of the night, and they’d find us sleeping here.” Cucinotti said.

As the wind chill neared the high teens on the thermometer and hail pounded down on their snorkel basket over the course of their fund-raising stint, there were moments of doubt, the men acknowledged.

“We talked talked about (leaving), but we decided, naah, we’re gonna stick it out,” Aldrich said.

Of the cold, Cucinotti said simply, “It was unbelievable.”

The firefighters had several layers of clothing to try to get them through the cold. Cucinotti had a sleeping bag, while Aldrich used a few blankets. Also keeping them going was the anticipation of hot meals donated by local restaurants, including filet mignon and wine chicken that the pair spoke of fondly. And they had a TV for the boredom.

But they were still glad to get it over with.

“I’m sick of you--get away from me!” Cucinotti told Aldrich near the end of their stint, giving him a good-natured shove.

Even though the tough part is now over, neither of the firefighters will get much of a rest. Cucinotti said he works Christmas Day at the Fountain Valley Department; Aldrich, meanwhile, starts a 46-hour shift at the County Fire Department today at 10 a.m.