Jake T-shirts benefit Wildland Firefighters Association
Operations Section Chief Jake Cagle became a bit of rock star for area residents over the course of the North Complex Fire, and even though the man may have left the area, his memory can live on thanks to a Jake T-shirt!
Quincy resident and Registered Nurse Ashley Blesse came up with the idea while working with his management team — CA Interagency Incident Management Team 4. Cagle, who provided twice-daily video briefings on the fire, was known as One-Take Jake among his team and sort of a celebrity in the fire community for that ability already. There was even a logo in his image.
Blesse enlisted the support of local T-shirt maker Becky McAllister and they put his image on a T-Shirt and presented it to him. Blesse also had the idea that they could print a few more for sale and donate proceeds to the The Wildlife Firefighters Foundation. The funds are used to help firefighters and their families who may suffer a loss or injury while battling fires.
But the idea caught on like wildfire (pardon the pun). No one was prepared for the onslaught of requests for T-shirts from local residents, as well as those who have been watching the fire’s progress from afar. After the first 50 quickly sold out, McCallister is busy making more.
The T-shirts are being sold for $25 and come in sizes S, M, L, XL or XXL. The T-shirts can be purchased at Mountain Graphic Design’s mobile T-shirt shop, set up at the corner of Hwy 70 and Fairgrounds Road.
