![]() He’s contributed mightily over decades to the activities of the Commodores Club of the Newport Chamber. Ralph Rodheim has waited a long time for this kind of recognition. The Heart Behind the Hero is available at The Yoders say their book is designed so readers can also share the pain that first responders often face when confronted with the heroic death of a colleague. The Yoders have compiled all their stories into a book titled The Heart Behind The Hero, which they say will allow readers to experience, through the words of the first responders, “The emotional trauma of holding a dying child, and the fear and adrenaline rush of battling a wildfire.” The accounts often reveal the inner emotions of those heroes undergoing an ordeal to save a life.Ĭollecting stories of recent tragedies, the Yoders also gathered intimate accounts of personal heroism at headline making past events like the shootings at Columbine High in Colorado and the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. That’s why, since his retirement, Curt and his wife Karen have been collecting heartwarming, inspirational stories and first-person accounts from firefighters, paramedics and rescue workers across the nation. But he thought the untold bravery and heroism among his colleagues, locally and nationwide, ought to be told. But the headlines seldom focus on the heroism, or sometimes-personal trauma, of the first responders who risked their lives in such heroic deeds.Ĭurt Yoder was with the Costa Mesa Fire Department for 25 years. That’s particularly true when children are involved. ![]() You don’t.Headlines are made when first responders save someone from a fire or other disaster. “You do not have any control over what Mother Nature is going to do. “We have the threat of fire, threat of earthquakes, floods. He lives in Rim Rock Canyon, not devoid of fire danger by any means, but that doesn’t spook him. Some days he stops by the fire station and grabs coffee with new guys and the few he still knows. This doesn’t,” he said, pointing to his head again. They explained to him that he couldn’t help everyone, that he was committed to a certain area, that it wasn’t his fault. ![]() After two years as a volunteer, he was made full-time in Laguna in 1967.īoka remembers his supervisor told him, “I want you to know, Bing, put that badge on there and it’s taking 10 years off your life.”īoka went to rehab and therapy after the fire. His brother, Jim Boka, was a firefighter and urged him to consider becoming one. He shaped surfboards for Alter before leaving to work at boatyards in Costa Mesa. In 1959, Boka won the Brooks Street Surfing Classic, the oldest continuously running surf contest in the country. In the late ’50s, Boka graduated from Laguna Beach High School and met surf buddy Hobie Alter – who would become a legend in the surf industry. Everyone knew his folks – his father worked at the lumberyard off Forest Avenue, and his mother worked at the phone company. When he was a kid, the population was about 5,000, he said. He was born and raised in town, in a Catalina Street home his parents bought in the 1930s. I hope everyone didn’t feel like that,” he said. Maybe that’s when the guilt hit him, he said. She yelled at him, angry about the loss of her home. Boka saw a friend’s wife at City Hall right after the fire.
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