The American Red Cross Gold Country Chapter honored Sebastopol Granger and PG&E employee Stanislaus “Stash” Wiecek and another PG&E employee for tending to six rescue animals during the Valley Fire in Yolo and Lake counties last year.
PG&E linemen Jeff Wolford and Stanislaus “Stash” Wiecek were surveying fire damage to PG&E facilities and helping to restore power when they came across four horses and two burros. The animals’ owner, Mary Quinn, had just moved to Lake County to establish a refuge for her nonprofit that rescues abused animals. The fire forced her to evacuate without the animals and then it destroyed her home.
Wolford and Wiecek provided water and food for the horses and burros for six days until the owner was able to safely return and care for them. They fed the animals apples, hay and grain, and gave them water. Quinn credits the PG&E employees with saving the animals’ lives.
“It’s just really, really nice to be associated with something positive that happened out of this catastrophic tragedy in this community,” Wiecek said. “And it’s going to take a long time for them to rebuild and do that so it’s nice to be part of something comforting and positive.”