Operation Fire H.E.A.T. helps restore holiday spirit for families affected by fires

The Fernandezes’ home was on fire.

“I took Fort Apache fast, real fast, as any normal red-blooded father would,” said Juan Fernandez. “I even beat the fire department.”

Their three children — 7-year-old Brianna, 9-year-old Kevin and 15-year-old Joshua, who has special needs — had been tucked into bed before the Fernandezes left the house. Their nanny, Maria Torres, also was there and got two of the children out. But she couldn’t lift Joshua.

“Thank goodness someone — no one knows who he was — knew how to disconnect Joshua’s feeding tube and carried him out,” Juan Fernandez said.

The family stood about 40 feet away from the house they’d bought 6½ years earlier and watched it burn. All the Christmas gifts were inside, hidden in the garage attic, still unwrapped.

Not far from the Fernandez home, another family, the Pallucks, had a house fire just four days later. The families know each other as their children attend the same school.

Bryan and Shea Palluck’s home of 10 years caught fire Dec. 7. The source was an exhaust fan in the ceiling.

Bryan Palluck was home with son Heathe, 9, who had a fever. Son Brayden, 11, was in class at Faith Lutheran Jr/Sr High School.

Shea Palluck was at MJ Christensen Elementary School, where their son Conner, 7, is a student. She was helping the PTA with a holiday shopping event when she was told a call came from home.

“I thought it was about my son, the one home sick,” she said. “Then I got halfway down the hall and learned that my house was on fire.”

By the time she and Conner hurried home, the fire had been put out, but everything inside was lost. Worse, the family’s two pets — Payton, a 4-year-old beagle, and Bandit, a 17-year-old cat — had died in the fire. Payton had been a Christmas gift for all three boys.

A couple of weeks later, Operation Fire H.E.A.T. representatives called to offer replacement presents.

“We said, ‘No, that’s OK, we really didn’t lose that many (gifts),’ ” Shea Palluck said. “But then Michelle (Fernandez) called and said, ‘Let’s do it together.’ ”

The Pallucks were persuaded. On Dec. 23, firetrucks again pulled up to the Fernandez home when both families were there. This time, there was no fire.

“They turned on the sirens when they got to the street,” Shea Palluck said. “The kids were stunned, like, ‘Is this house on fire, too?’ Then they saw them unloading gifts and Santa getting off the truck.”

This is the fourth year Operation Fire H.E.A.T. has helped valley families devastated by fire. The nonprofit group is made up of firefighters from Las Vegas Fire & Rescue and the Clark County Fire Department. They use their own money to buy presents for children.

“It began with an email asking for $5 a pay period, and nine people (participated),” said Fred Wechselberger, president and treasurer of Operation Fire H.E.A.T. “That first year we helped two families. Thank goodness we were smart enough to take pictures, which we shared with people … the next year, we had 25 dispatchers, and it just snowballed from there.”

Each family receives about $1,000 in age-appropriate toys for their children.

The Pallucks got another gift just before Christmas. A family that had to move but that couldn’t take its family pet gave them their beagle, a 4-year-old named Jo Jo.

What will they remember most?

“How people really care when tragedy strikes,” said Shea Palluck. “They just come out of the woodwork.”

For more information about Operation Fire H.E.A.T., visit operationfireheat.org.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 387-2949.