Pete Gookin, son of Chris and Louie Gookin, posted this poem to Columbia California News on the Street at 6:36 a.m. Tuesday, about the fire that destroyed his parents’ home:

“A Siren wails

Atop an empty fire house a siren wails its call to action. It’s 0250 and one of your neighbors needs your help it calls out in the early morning darkness. Not many remember or even know that before cell phones, pagers and crippling politics the siren once stirred the local volunteers to action. Now it sits silent except for its daily single ascending and descending wail at noon and occasionally for a few days at 1100 or 1300 depending on the time of year. At 0250 May 27th one man remembered it’s purpose, a man who once responded to its mournful call to duty and action. Unable to escape his burning home with his cell phone or even pants, his options to summon help were few. While his wife pounded frantically on the neighbor’s door the man drove 582 feet to an empty fire station, broke the glass and pushed the button.

A siren wails……atop an empty fire station a siren wails……

Help is coming, from miles away but it’s coming, be patient my neighbors, it’s coming…..from Sonora from Jamestown from Murphy’s and Twain Harte…help is coming….

Before the first engine with its trained professional firefighters arrives the now silenced Siren’s faded red paint reflects the orange glow of the nearby flames which are busy consuming the home of 53 years and the memories of one of our residents.

A siren wailed…at 0250 it wailed, if you live within earshot and if it woke you from a peaceful slumber, it wailed to call you to action. If the siren’s wail caused you anxiety at 0250, it should have, for it was wailing its mournful cry atop an empty fire house. The siren wailed to call you to duty and action. Why was it wailing atop an empty fire house is your duty to ask, and to take action to fill that empty building with people trained willing to answer its call.. A siren wails.

Pete Gookin, Columbia Resident May 28th 2022”