Paying Respects to Porterville

Departments statewide, including Merced, sent firefighters to help out

The city block in Porterville where the Public Library once stood. Photo by Steve Newvine

The Porterville Library fire is a story that impacts many of us on several levels.

There’s the tragedy of two firefighters losing their lives battling the blaze, the arrest of two teens who now face charges of arson and manslaughter, as well as the loss of a community resource that served hundreds of families in the City along with many others from around this City of sixty-thousand residents.

Words come up short in trying to describe the feelings of citizens who lost two of their own.

At the heart of the story is the outpouring of help and the paying of respects to a community dealing with their loss.

This sign in front of the Porterville Elks Club announces the postponement of activities out of respect for the first responders. Photo by Steve Newvine

Upon entering the section of the downtown area where the library once stood, I spotted a sign in front of the local Elks club announcing the postponement of some events “with respect to our first responders”.

Respect seems to be the best word to describe what I saw upon my visit just a few days after the tragedy.

The fire broke out around five o’clock Tuesday evening, February 18.

Porterville Fire responded within minutes. A second alarm, signifying that more firefighting resources would be needed, was pulled within minutes of the first crew responding.

Captain Ray Figueroa and Firefighter Patrick Jones died fighting that fire.

There are beautiful descriptions of these two heroes on the Porterville Fire Department’s Facebook page.

The community of Porterville, and others, paying respect with this display in front of the Fire Department. Captain Ray Figueroa (left) and Firefighter Patrick Jones lost their lives fighting that fire. Photos from the Porterville Fire Department Facebook page. Photo illustration by Steve Newvine.

Departments from all over the area helped out to put the fire down, and in the days following there were departments sending in resources as far away as Los Angeles.

In Merced, Deputy Fire Chief Casey Wilson told me the department sent two firefighters to Porterville the next day to help relieve others.

Public safety barriers encircled the block where the remains of the Porterville Public Library once stood. Photo by Steve Newvine

As I entered the scene, there was a public safety yellow tape serving as a barrier. I asked a police officer nearby if I could go beyond the barrier to pay my respects. He told me they were not letting anyone other than employees who worked in that area beyond the barrier so that crews could work on removing the debris.

I thanked the officer, and told him I understood that decision. This tragedy has been hard on the police department as well.

It’s been hard on all first responders.

Flags fly at half-staff out of respect for the two firefighters killed battling the February 18th fire. These flags are in front of the Porterville Police Department and the Elks Club. Photo by Steve Newvine

Porterville is about one-hundred, thirty miles south of Merced. That seems like a long way, but this tragedy is shared across California.

On the streets of Porterville, I spoke with a firefighter from outside the region as he was heading to his department vehicle.

He told me he wasn’t familiar with the area, but he was here to assist where needed.

He, like many others, were showing respect to firefighters Figueroa and Jones by doing whatever he could to help out.

That’s what good neighbors do.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced

At Home with Elvis

My Three Visits to Graceland

Graceland Mansion in 1983. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

There have been a few big moments in my working career.

Three of them came when I visited Elvis Presley’s home, Graceland, in Memphis.

My wife and I went to Graceland on a day off from work when we lived in the southeast United States.

We were tourists and didn’t mind waiting in line to get a chance to view the graves of Elvis and two of his family members.

We spent about an hour on the grounds and another hour or so at some souvenir shops across the street.

Now let me take you back to 1981 when I working as a television news reporter for station WAAY in Huntsville, Alabama.

My boss was asking the staff for ideas on multi-part stories we could produce for the upcoming ratings period.

Back in 1981, local television stations would try to increase their ratings during February, May, and November when the national viewing surveys would take place.

The thinking was if we attracted more viewers to the newscast, the station might get higher ratings and hopefully greater revenue from ad sales.

I had done multi-part or mini-doc reports early in my tenure with the station. But this time, I had a big idea.

Why not go to Memphis, about a four-hour drive from Huntsville, and do a series of reports on Graceland and Elvis?

The fourth anniversary of Elvis’ death was coming up in August.

So we sold the news director on doing a three-part series for the November ratings period.

While we were there, we agreed to do a segment on the anniversary celebration for the next night’s newscast.

Fans visit the graves of Elvis Presley, his father, and his grandmother on the grounds of Graceland Mansion in Memphis in the early 1980s. Photo: Newvine Personal Collection

My videographer Bill and I left the station early on a Sunday and headed to Memphis along highway forty across northern Mississippi.

We arrived in Memphis around lunchtime. I don’t remember where we ate. But I do remember what it was like to see Graceland for the first time. Back then, the interior of the mansion was not open to the public.

But we had plenty of things to shoot on the grounds.

I did a couple of stand-ups where the reporter talks on camera from the scene of a story. One stand-up was for the fourth anniversary story.

The other one would be used in the three-part series to air later in the fall. Someone told us there was an Elvis symposium at the local college.

I remember being amused by the words symposium and Elvis being used in the same sentence. It was at that conference that I met authors Neal and Janice Gregory who wrote When Elvis Died.

The book was about how the national media covered the news of the internationally known superstar’s death.

Mr. Gregory spent a few minutes answering my questions. We used his interview in the series that would air later in the fall.

The book When Elvis Died, by Neal and Janice Gregory.

We finished up shooting around three PM. Realizing that we had already been up well over ten hours, we decided to head back to Huntsville.

Bill, who knew his way around Memphis, had another idea. He drove us to the area in the City where the Lorraine Motel was located.

The Loraine was where Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior was assassinated in 1968. “They’re going to turn this into a museum someday,” Bill told me as we slowed down. There is was.

All I could do was remember that spring of 1968. Martin Luther King was killed in April, my uncle Bill lost his life in a car accident in May, and Bobby Kennedy was shot in June of that year.

We stopped the car and we looked at the motel façade. We knew we had a long ride ahead of us, so we got back in the car and headed home.

The Lorraine Motel eventually became part of the National Civil Rights Museum.

The grave marker of Elvis Presley. Photo- Newvine Personal Collection

Our story on the forth anniversary of Elvis’ death aired the next night on the six o’clock news.

A three-part special report called, “The Elvis Influence” aired over three nights in November. I don’t recall if we got rave reviews or higher ratings.

I do remember people asking me about Graceland for a long time after the series ran. In the spring of 1982, I read how the Presley estate was going to open Graceland Mansion to the public.

At the time, the estate was losing money. The decision by the family to open the mansion for paid visits was welcomed by fans, and is credited with saving the estate from potential bankruptcy.

This was another reason to go back to Graceland.

This time, we were permitted to shoot inside in the so-called Jungle Room. The room was like a recreation room Elvis and his Memphis Mafia used. Workers were assembling items for display when the home would formally open to the public.

I was able to strum one of Elvis’ guitars, sat behind the wheel in one of his cars, and interviewed someone who was helping stage the permanent exhibit inside the mansion.

In late May, the interior of Graceland Mansion was opened to the public.

It was a memory that I’ve recalled over and over in the past four decades. It truly was something I will never forget.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

He has written Course Corrections. He congratulates the ten winners of a recent contest sponsored on MercedCountyEvents.com. Each winner will get a copy of the book.