Garrett Paiz — Indio native, firefighter lived ultimate dream
His nickname was “Taco” for all the times he came to California during summers to fight wildfires and enjoy the taco stands here. And his ready grin and quick quips lifted the spirits of everyone around him.
Those are the memories Garrett Paiz’s friends and family held dear this week as they remembered the sunny firefighter from Missouri who lost his life Monday fighting the Wine Country fires.
Mr. Paiz, 38, died when the private firefighting water truck he was driving careened off the steep Oakville Grade road in Napa County near Highway 29 around 7 a.m. Officials said it wasn’t clear what caused the accident, but fatigue from long hours of working the fire may have been a factor.
“Garrett was always smiling, always laughing, always the guy who was joking around and trying to put some light on a bad situation,” said Brandon Barrett, chief of the volunteer fire department in tiny Noel, Mo., where Mr. Paiz was on call like all the other firefighters there. “He was a hardworking guy.
“Anytime he was assigned a task, he was a get-in-and-getit-done kind of guy. It was never a dull moment with him.”
Mr. Paiz’s sister, Cinthia Paiz of Coachella (Riverside County), said her brother died doing one of the things he loved best.
“Being a firefighter was one of his lifelong dreams. That’s what he wanted to do,” she said. “He set out to do it, and that’s what he did. I am very proud of him.”
Mr. Paiz ran his own longhaul trucking company and had traveled for several summers to fight fires in other parts of the country, including California.
He was battling blazes in Washington state and came from there to Napa County a few days before his death to pitch in as a contractor with Cal Fire. He was among more than 10,000 firefighters attacking the deadly Wine Country fires this month.
Born in Indio, a desert city in Riverside County, Mr. Paiz grew up on a small ranch that had “chickens, pigs and coyotes,” his sister said. After graduating from Coachella Valley High School, he studied agriculture at the College of the Desert in Palm Desert (Riverside County) and worked as a cowboy, a trucker and a firefighter.
He had been posted for about a year with the Noel Fire Department.
On his Facebook page, Mr. Paiz displayed a reverential respect for other first responders and the craft of firefighting. “We will always run in when your luck runs out,” read one post.
He is survived by his wife, Bobbie Paiz of Noel, Mo.; his parents, Judi and Armando Paiz of Coachella; his sister, Cinthia; a brother, Carlos Paiz of Coachella; and a daughter, Terri Ann Paiz of Tehachapi (Kern County). Services are pending and will be held in Southern California.