TOOELE, Utah — Crews from Utah traveled to Oregon to help contain the Falls Fire, which has burned over 140,000 acres and is now 73 percent contained.

One such fighter is Julius Gallegos from North Tooele Fire District.

“It can be pretty challenging, but very rewarding,” said Gallegos, a seasonal wildland firefighter. “Long hours – sometimes 16 hour days for 2 or 3 weeks straight, working in the sun, steep terrain, lot of physical labor.”

This is Gallegos’ wildfire first season with the North Tooele Fire District.

“It’s a very dynamic job. You never know what you’ll be doing that day.” He said. “Trimming up trees, chopping down trees, patrolling the roads, patrolling the fire lines, making sure that there are now spot fires that have passed the roads, cleaning up edges to prevent further spread.”

Back at home, Gallegos has been busy with fires here too.

“We’re just barely starting this fire season. It’s projected that fire season will go till early, mid-October this year.”

They work with other agencies nationwide through a mutual aid program.

“It also gives them the opportunity to further their skill set in a wide variety of terrain, with other types of firefighters and other types of trucks that we might not have ready access to train on because of their constant use,” said fellow North Tooele Fire District Jon Smith.

The best way to fight wildfires is to prevent them. This helps departments like the North Tooele Fire District because many of their firefighters are volunteers.

“By not dragging your chains, by not parking your cars in high vegetation, but not shooting into high tall grass or using exploding targets,” said Smith. “And not throwing cigarettes out the windows. And when we’re camping and recreating on BLM land, make sure you’re putting those fires out.”

Through a federal grant awarded to the North Tooele Fire District, Gallegos can now help people within their district with fire prevention for free.

“Me and my partner will come out and survey your home, and give you advice on how you can better prevent a fire from destroying your home,” added Gallegos.

Hoping to continue to save lives – wherever he is called.

“Firefighting is a very rewarding profession for me personally, and I’m honored to be there and help out my community and help out my country, in any ways that I can,” said Gallegos.

A fourth suspect in a deadly shooting at a South San Jose apartment complex in May was arrested this past week in Utah, authorities said.

San Jose police confirmed reports that Leimaunaloa Aholelei was arrested Wednesday in Vineyard, Utah by the U.S. Marshals Service and local police. Vineyard is located northwest of Provo, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Aholelei was the subject of an arrest warrant obtained by the San Jose Police Department related to the fatal May 26 shooting of 21-year-old Jonathan Isaac Oliva Rodriguez on Blossom River Way, near the Westfield Oakridge shopping center.

Three other men were arrested July 16 in connection with the shooting: Nuuvali Lafo, 19, of San Jose; Isaac Noa, 24, of Los Banos; and Jason Vaavaai, 25, of Los Banos.

San Jose police have not fully detailed the circumstances of the shooting, which was the 15th homicide investigated by the department this year. But the U.S. Marshals Service reported that the killing was preceded by several people carrying out a home invasion and shooting the victim.

Marshals were acting on information developed in the SJPD investigation, authorities said, and they had to force their way into a Vineyard apartment to detain Aholelei, who eventually surrendered.

It was unclear when Aholelei would be extradited to the Bay Area; jail records show he was not in Santa Clara County custody as of Friday afternoon.

Anyone with information for San Jose homicide investigators can call 408-277-5283 or email Detective Sgt. Julien Taylor at 4257@sanjoseca.gov or Detective Mike Harrington at 4365@sanjoseca.gov. Tips can also be left with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at siliconvalleycrimestoppers.org.

Originally Published: August 2, 2024 at 4:35 p.m.

LEFTOVER TRADE DEADLINE BITS:

Davey Martinez was in his second year on the bench when Washington won it all in 2019, but since then (or since 2021/2022, really), he’s overseen the reboot/rebuild in D.C., guiding the Nationals through an at-times difficult process as they traded away players on expiring deals who helped in ‘19, and some others with a few years of control remaining (Trea Turner & Juan Soto) who were part of that team.

Again this year, the club made moves which make sense in context of trying to build up the next championship-caliber club in the nation’s capital, but it hasn’t really made it any easier to watch all the talent departing, even if they’ve turned those players into a stockpile of real high-end prospects, and, in addition to what they’ve added in the draft, they have what they think is the core of the next contender.

“Those were really tough,” he said of the past four deadlines, but especially the first few when members of the ‘19 team were traded. “But that group of guys, we did something really special. We won a championship together. My hope is that with the guys we got in here, the core kids we got in here, and some added help, we can do something again like that.

“I really think that the direction we’re going in we’ll have a chance to win another World Series.”

The possibility of the club buying at next year’s trade deadline after all the selling, has both the manager and GM and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo excited about what the future holds.

“Yeah it will be amazing, it really will,” the seventh-year manager said after this year’s deadline passed. “The key is if we start doing that [buying vs selling], it means at the end of the year we’re really going to play for something. I don’t really feel like right now we’re out of anything by any means, we’re close…”

“It’s more fun,” Rizzo said of eventually being buyers again. “I know that much.

“It’s way more fun grabbing All-Star players than it is giving away All-Star players, so in that regard it will be a lot more fun, but this is challenging, and this is a tough time for players, and we recognize that, and we think it’s a necessary time, and I think that this organization, this front office did a remarkable job and has always done a remarkable job at the trade deadline, and I think this year was no different.”

Closer Kyle Finnegan was the subject of plenty of rumors going into the trade deadline, but he wasn’t dealt in the end, and he said he was happy to stay, having joined the club back in 2020 and carved out a role for himself during the reboot years.

He said he hopes he’s here for the good times too.

“Just like seeing this thing through. You can see it starting to come together, and the young talent that we have is exciting to watch every night,” Finnegan said.

“And to be out there pitching in front of these guys and have them behind you, it’s special.

“Just to have a jersey in this league is something that I don’t take for granted.”

ALL-AMERICAN BOY:

As he explained it, a day after he traded Lane Thomas to the Cleveland Guardians in return for a prospect package which included lefty Alex Clemmey, 19, infielder José Tena, 23, and 19-year-old infielder Rafael Ramirez Jr., Nationals’ GM (and President of Baseball Ops) Mike Rizzo told reporters he made the deal because Washington got what they thought was fair market value for the 28-year-old outfielder.

“That was the reason we pulled the trigger,” Rizzo said. “When you can headline it with the upside 19-year-old Clemme, and Tena, and Ramirez, [Jr.], I think that was — the surplus value of those guys and the impact that they could have, and the upside that they all have, I thought was a good return for a really good player in Lane Thomas.”

A day after the deadline, Rizzo talked with 106.7 the FAN in D.C.’s Sports Junkies about their decision to trade Thomas, with a year and a half of team control remaining, after helping to build him up after acquiring him at the deadline in 2021 (straight up for Jon Lester).

“Lane’s a terrific player for us,” Rizzo told the Junkies. “Last year he was All-Star quality for us, and probably should have made the team. This year, dominating lefties again, and playing good outfield. He’s got a cannon for an arm, he’s stealing bases. A leader in the clubhouse and he’s just an all-around American boy, he’s just a great kid. And did a lot of good things for the organization and we’ll miss him.”

“He’s one of my quiet leaders out there. It’s tough. We have a good relationship. Players love him,” manager Davey Martinez said after losing his right fielder.

“He’s really good player. Cleveland’s going to get a really good player. I wish him all the best.”

Moving on without Thomas, Martinez said, would be a little weird, especially for the young players on the club, for whom Thomas was a mentor.

“It’s going to be a little — I won’t say difficult, but weird without him, because he was that veteran guy for those guys.”

Rizzo and Co. in the Nationals’ front office saw an opportunity to deal Thomas at his peak value, addressing what they saw as organizational needs in the process.

“When you think about the trade deadline, you think about what you have at the big league level, where your deficiencies are in the minor league level, and what you need to do to become a championship-caliber club,” the GM explained.

“And we saw Lane probably being at his apex of his trade value,” Rizzo continued.

“More trade value this year for Lane Thomas than there was last year for some reason, even with there being more control last year.

“We had a market value in our minds for what we would do Lane for and bounced around a lot of teams and there was a lot of interest and lot of action with him with the contenders. And you package in the fact that we’ve got some outfielders that are close to the big leagues that will impact the team in the very near future we thought that it was a deal that we couldn’t pass up at this time.”

LAST NIGHT’S GAME HIGHLIGHTS – BREWERS 8; NATIONALS 3: