Firefighter honored by legendary UFC fighter while battling Eaton Fire
By Andres Valle
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ALTADENA, California (KCRA) — Tuesday was supposed to mark a career milestone for Modesto firefighter Ryan Fenton. The department promoted him to engineer with a pinning ceremony to celebrate his achievement.
That all changed when wildfires in Southern California began to engulf multiple areas of Los Angeles County last week.
Fenton along with his team, Brush 1, was deployed to help stop the spread of the Eaton Fire in Altadena.
“When you’re driving down some neighborhood streets, and you see they used to be spots where kids ride their bikes and play basketball outside… and you just see nothing but rubble on the ground. It’s devastating,” he said.
Fenton and his team spent the day resting at a base camp on what would have been his pinning ceremony when an unexpected turn of events happened.
UFC legend Chuck Liddell visited their camp to share his appreciation for the fire crews working in the area.
“My captain mentioned that it was pretty much the day I was supposed to get promoted, but we were out here in L.A., and he [Chuck] was willing to do the badge pinning for us,” said Fenton.
The UFC fighter even personally signed the back of Fenton’s badge.
“Getting promoted alone is a big deal. And then having someone like the ‘Ice Man’ do it is unheard of,” said Fenton.
The Modesto Fire Department took to social media to share the news. Liddell took photos with the rest of the team as well.
Battalion Chief Jim Black says something like this helps boost his team’s morale and motivates them to keep pushing forward.
“It’s stressful on the guys and they’re out doing 24-hour shifts. It’s pretty depressing. So that kind of thing, just something like that. Just to lighten the mood a little bit… it was very nice of Chuck to do that. So, anything like that helps the guys. That helps the morale out a lot,” said Black.
Modesto Fire will be giving Fenton a proper pinning ceremony when he gets back. As of Tuesday night, there’s no timeline for when they’ll be relieved of their duties in Southern California.
“It makes you appreciate what you have at home. We’re far from home, Modesto to L.A. and being able to help any community is huge,” said Fenton.
Fenton plans on having his family at the event but says he doesn’t think it will top being pinned by Chuck Liddell.
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