“You do not have any control over what Mother Nature is going to do. “We have the threat of fire, threat of earthquakes, floods. He lives in Rim Rock Canyon, not devoid of fire danger by any means, but that doesn’t spook him. Some days he stops by the fire station and grabs coffee with new guys and the few he still knows. This doesn’t,” he said, pointing to his head again. They explained to him that he couldn’t help everyone, that he was committed to a certain area, that it wasn’t his fault. After two years as a volunteer, he was made full-time in Laguna in 1967.īoka remembers his supervisor told him, “I want you to know, Bing, put that badge on there and it’s taking 10 years off your life.”īoka went to rehab and therapy after the fire. His brother, Jim Boka, was a firefighter and urged him to consider becoming one. Los Angeles Orange County Fire Captain Jumps To His Death From 5 Freeway Overpass Decem/ 7:51 AM / KCAL News MISSION VIEJO () The Orange County Fire Authority. He shaped surfboards for Alter before leaving to work at boatyards in Costa Mesa. In 1959, Boka won the Brooks Street Surfing Classic, the oldest continuously running surf contest in the country. In the late ’50s, Boka graduated from Laguna Beach High School and met surf buddy Hobie Alter – who would become a legend in the surf industry. Everyone knew his folks – his father worked at the lumberyard off Forest Avenue, and his mother worked at the phone company. When he was a kid, the population was about 5,000, he said. He was born and raised in town, in a Catalina Street home his parents bought in the 1930s. I hope everyone didn’t feel like that,” he said. Maybe that’s when the guilt hit him, he said. She yelled at him, angry about the loss of her home. "He is my angel, with my mom, and he'll forever be in my heart," she said.Boka saw a friend’s wife at City Hall right after the fire. The final result: angel wings enveloping her brother's initials. With her son and friends at her side Kreza-Diehl inked a permanent memorial to her brother and hero. "They bring in images or tell stories and they let us know the piece they want, how they want it to look, the position on their body and just go from there," Turnbow said. The tattoo artist says he often helps families with tattoos that pay tribute to lost loved ones. She turned to Dedicated Tattoos in Temecula and friend Chris Turnbow. Kreza-Diehl said she wanted a lasting memorial for her brother in the form of a tattoo. In the days that followed after his death, the community left flowers, candles and a ghost bike at the site, but almost a year later, it has faded away. The fire gear, flag and Costa Mesa Fire Department bell for fallen firefighters sit in front of the church as hundreds attend a funeral service for Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Captain Michael Kreza. "It's very difficult to know that this wonderful community leader, father, brother, uncle, husband is taken from us in a split of a second for someone else's senseless choice," Kreza-Diehl said. Michael Kreza, died last November after he was struck and killed while riding his bicycle by a driver allegedly under the influence. Her brother, Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue Cpt. (KABC) - Rachel Kreza-Diehl remembers her brother as she points to photos of him. The sister of an Orange County fire captain killed almost one year ago remembered her brother through a piece of permanent art.
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