As you’ve probably gathered by now, Evan Kilkus had quite a few years under his belt using his drone to capture photos. In fact, he had become a YouTube sensation for it. Usually he would use it while he was on adventures and exploring the unknown.
The information that he was about to uncover and would provide to the local residents would be very important. Firefighters, even ones that had flown in from other countries, came in to battle the flames. Evan stayed behind to monitor the fires and see in which direction they would be going in.
Safety First
People all around the area had fled and left most of their cherished belongings and homes behind. However, Evan Kilkus understood and felt that he needed to stick around for the sake of his community. He knew that he had a responsibility that not many other people had. In addition to working at the rental shop at Lake Berryessa, he was also a member of the local fire safety council for that area. As with most things in his life, he took this role very seriously.
In an effort to warn everyone in the area of the terrible conditions, he sent out mass text messages and posted on the internet that an evacuation was a must. The wind patterns at the time were showing that they were about to head directly in the direction of the residents and their homes. Then, Evan did the unimaginable.
Evacuating
Before they knew it, there was a public call made for all of the locals of the Berryessa Highlands to evacuate and move to shelters somewhat nearby. The residents didn’t have too much time and needed to grab their belongings and move quickly. The only person staying behind was Evan because he had a plan put in place.
Evan’s father grabbed what he could before leaving. Once he left, Evan arrived at his dad’s place with an important idea in mind. He knew that this idea could possibly help his community, even if he wasn’t a firefighter. Instead of using his drone, he decided to use his phone this time.
In Need Of Some Help
You wouldn’t expect Evan to sit back and just observe the fires, and he didn’t. He took photos of the fire surrounding Lake Berryessa. He worked in shifts, sleeping a minimum amount of time so that he could monitor the progress of the fires. He wanted to be sure that they didn’t make it over the ridge of the hills, which were only about a mile away. He captured and recorded everything when he was awake and posted it on social media to share with the locals, especially.
He utilized Facebook Live mostly for the residents who lived in the area and were worried about their homes. He knew that this would relieve some stress for those who were concerned that they were going to lose everything they worked so hard for. But nothing comes easy, and everything was working against him.
Hero
It was obvious that Evan didn’t really care about his safety all that much. Nor did he really care whether or not his property was lost in the fire. He was more concerned about taking the photos and posting them to social media to update the Lake Berryessa residents. He was going the extra mile to deliver the information that the people so desperately wanted.
Power lines were going out all over the place. Because of that, Evan had to go back and forth between his place and his dad’s while using a generator to keep everything charged. There was only one transmitter on Atlas Peak that was functioning. He had limited service and half a battery life left when an unbelievable request came in for him to fulfill.