More than a month has passed since the Creek Fire started in the Big Creek area near Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake burning more than 350,000 acres and leaving residents displaced. 

This challenging time brought out the best in Fresno residents, especially the Fresno State community involved with the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology. Mark Salwasser, the university farm manager, said that the university housed horses, cows, beef, goats, sheep and mules during the fires. All the animals were taken care of by students and staff members. 

“Everybody just knew that’s what we needed to do,” Salwasser said.

This movement of aid wasn’t orchestrated by one single person, it was a community effort. Salwasser also mentioned that alumni members and friends were essential to spread the word and get in contact with people who needed help. 

At the beginning of the first week, every available space was filled with displaced animals. Most of the animals arrived on Sept. 5, the day after the fires started. 

“We will always be helping out,” Salwasser said. “Ag students are always willing to help their neighbors.” 

Randy Perry, the beef unit enterprise manager, said there were around 120 extra animals in the laboratories. 

One of the many students that helped in a completely different, yet impactful way, is Riley Budd. 

Budd, a criminology major and animal science minor at Fresno State, was on a long-distance 30-mile backpacking trip at Big Creek when he and his two friends saw smoke over the horizon.

As they realized a fire had broken out in the woods, they attempted to get out unsuccessfully and were forced to wait in a campground located in the Vermilion Valley Resort by Lake Thomas A. Edison.

“As soon as I got into camp, there was already an emergency situation going on,” Budd said. 

When he got to the campground, a man was in cardiac arrest. Without hesitation, Budd used his Eagle Scout experience and practiced CPR on the man for over an hour. 

An ER nurse was in the campground with her family when they got trapped by the fire as well. She was originally handling the situation when Budd jumped in to help her.

Unfortunately, without medical personnel being able to get to the campground due to the fire, the man died. According to KVPR, the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office later identified him as David Sirk, 69, of West Sacramento.” 

Budd, 20, was recertified in CPR through Fresno State when the university held a seminar for club sports officers.

“From that point on, it was a very long couple of days,” Budd said. 

Along with his friends, he put together a list of names of everyone who was at the campsite to make sure everyone was accounted for. They divided people into different evacuation groups. The idea was to place the groups in the cars that were around the campsite and attempt to escape. 

However, the flames did not allow them to. 

Budd, along with his friends, rationed and cooked food for everyone at the campsite. At the time, there were 30 people taking shelter, but by the time they were rescued, 150 people were at the campsite, according to Budd. 

“We were always giving people things to do to take their minds off their situation,” Budd said. “We were always working to make the situation better rather than waiting to be rescued.” 

After 24 hours, Fresno County Sheriff Deputies and policemen arrived around 3 p.m. the next day. According to Budd, the deputies tried to rescue the campers through the road they had arrived but that road was blocked off by the fires. 

On Sept. 7, Budd was able to contact his parents with a satellite phone located in the campground. His parents contacted a friend of his who has a military background. The friend got in contact with the California National Guard which started rescue efforts. 

It wasn’t until Sept. 9, at 3 a.m. when the first helicopter arrived at the campground to rescue people. 

“It was extremely devastating, and my heart goes out to everyone who experienced any kind of loss,” Budd said.