By Robert Robinson

On the stage of the Crest Theater in Sacramento, with a huge American flag behind him, Captain Wesley D. Grim of Exeter bowed his head as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger slipped the Governor’s Medal of Valor over Grim’s head.

Capt. Grim was one of forty-two state employees on December 9, 2008, to receive the Medal of Valor — the highest honor California gives to its public servants. A twenty-six-year Cal-Fire veteran, Capt. Grim earned the honor through his extraordinarily brave efforts to save a local infant trapped in a burning home on May 31, 2007.

On that May morning, Exeter Fire crews fought a blaze in a single-family home at 301 South Orange Ave. in the small town of Exeter. When Exeter Police arrived, twenty-year-old Esbeyde Calvillo told them that though she and her oldest son, two-year-old Alonzo Gomez Jr., were fine, her eleven-month-old son, Jonathan Gomez, was still inside the burning home. A local schoolteacher had tried to get into the home but the smoke and heat drove the teacher back from the home.

Exeter Police Officers Scott Jones and David Diaz attempted to enter the blazing home several times to save the child, but they too were no match for the extreme heat and smoke. Exhausted from their battle to save the little boy, both officers were treated for smoke inhalation and Officer Jones had to be rushed to Kaweah Delta Hospital for treatment of his injuries.

Exeter Fire Capt. Grim and Firefighter Rob Hubbard were preparing the fire hose for their attack on the fire when Exeter Police Chief Cliff Bush ran past them shouting that there was still a boy trapped inside. Immediately Capt. Grim dropped the line, running for the house without regard for his own safety or even his life.

Diving into Smoke and Flames
He shattered the window and dove into the smoke-and flame-filled room. As he crawled through the room searching for the child, flames and thick black smoke consumed the room foot by foot making it impossible to see anything. When Capt. Grim found the young child, he scooped him up and headed back for the window he had entered through. Capt. Grim handed the lifeless child out of the window where Officer Diaz was waiting. “All I could see was this pair of arms extending out of the smoke holding this child’s small body,” said Officer Diaz. With his helmet and gear singed and smoldering from the intense heat, Capt. Grim quickly exited through the window as the flames engulfed the room.

The heroic efforts put forth on this day, ultimately, were not enough to save the young boy’s life. Jonathan Gomez, just one day shy of his first birthday, had already lost his battle to the smoke and heat. The rescuers could not revive him. This was a tragic event in the small community. Exeter Police officers, city workers, teachers, and firefighters did everything humanly possible to save this boy. Altogether, stations from Exeter, Farmersville, Lindsay, and Ivanhoe responded to this blaze with a total of nineteen firefighters working from 9 a.m. until late afternoon to completely extinguish the flames. It has taken considerably longer for some involved to heal, both physically and mentally.

The Medal of Valor is awarded to state employees who have demonstrated great bravery, going above and beyond the call of duty to save a life, unselfishly putting their lives and safety in danger to save others. Capt. Grim’s colleagues and superior officers felt he had done just such a thing that May day in Exeter, and nominated him for the award. Though the child’s life could not be saved, the effort Capt. Grim made to save him demonstrated the true resolve our first responders show on a daily basis. “It’s an honor that my colleagues and bosses feel I deserve this for going above and beyond, but it’s what I was trained to do,” said Capt. Grim humbly. “We all go above and beyond every day in the fire services.”

During the award ceremony Gov. Schwarzenegger presented each recipient with a medal. Family and colleagues cheered as the medals were placed around the necks of the honored men and women. As the recipients returned to their seats, pride swelled inside the Crest Theater, just a block from the state capitol building. Several of Capt. Grim’s family members and colleagues traveled to the capital to support him. As the ceremony ended, Gov. Schwarzenegger invited award recipients and their guests to the state Christmas tree lighting ceremony where an ornament with each of their names would be placed on the tree that had been named “The Tree of Heroes.”

Capt. Grim is now at the Cal-Fire station in Woodlake. He is still a huge part of the Exeter fire community, where he volunteers part time for Tulare County Fire as an engineer and helps train the local fire explorer group.