COHASSET — The very first thing Justin Autrey packed in his pickup as he evacuated for “the big one” was his Milwaukee metal grinder, just in case.
For years, Autrey, 43, born and raised in Cohasset, dwelled on his community’s only fire evacuation route — one way, downhill on Cohasset Road. He also kept in mind the dirt roads he’d grown up off-roading on bikes and ATVs. Over time, he pondered scenarios with friends on what they’d do in an emergency situation.
On July 24, 2024, Cohasset’s main egress was blocked by the Park Fire within three hours of the fire’s start.
There are hundreds of logging roads in the area, but Autrey knew of one connecting Cohasset Stage Road to Highway 32. He’d been there before — it was blocked year-round by a locked gate, which he was prepared to cut.
No authorities were present to direct trapped residents, nor anyone with a key for the gate. So Autrey, equipped with intimate knowledge of his “backyard,” rose to the occasion to lead more than 80 cars through a maze of dusty logging roads to safely.
For this action, Autrey is the winner among nominees for the Enterprise-Record’s Hometown Heroes honors.
“Everything just fell into place,” Autrey said in an interview Tuesday. “I made sure I was grabbing my grinder, my cut-off wheels, and I knew the back roads.”
While prepared for the worst, Autrey did not have to use his tools. A Sierra Pacific Industries employee unlocked the gates and let Autrey guide the Cohasset residents forward. His family headed to Chester for the night, and others found their way to Chico and elsewhere.
Despite being the fourth-largest recorded fire in California history, the Park Fire was not fatal.
Preemptive OK
Autrey recalled the experiences that prepared him for this moment. He knew of a fire that devastated Cohasset more than 130 years ago, and he also fought a fire with his dad, Jamey Autrey, in 2022 with their family pickup equipped with a water tank. Another massive fire was not out of the imagination.
Before the Park Fire, Autrey said he and others at a community safety meeting discussed this road as a possible evacuation route and came to understand it was kept closed by Sierra Pacific.
“For years, we’ve always known, ‘Well, if you can’t go out the bottom, I’ll go out the top way, and the gates are always locked, and we’ll cut the gates’ — no problem,” Autrey said. “I even told the sheriff’s deputy we need to be able to evacuate that way.”
Autrey said the deputy told him during the meeting that “there’s too many roads, people won’t know where to go.”
He responded, “Well, I’ll probably be evacuating out that way, I know all those back roads … I’ll cut those gates if I have to.”
Autrey recalled the deputy’s response: “Do whatever you need to to save life.”
With a preemptive OK by the Sheriff’s Office, and his confident knowledge of Cohasset’s back roads, Autrey took the lead in guiding the 80 plus cars to safety.
‘Have a plan’
Autrey says it wasn’t just he who was the hero; his good friends knew he would be coming to help guide people out. He said Josh Mossi and Dana Silver coordinated scattered cars into a line by a helipad near Campbellville, waiting ready for Autrey to take the lead. His friend Tony Rios followed last in the line of cars to make sure all were accounted for, Autrey said.
“We always had our plan within our community, our friends, that we already knew if we can’t got down that way to Chico, we take the back way,” he said.
Autrey credits his knowledge of the Cohasset Ridge to his days getting to know the area around his family’s 250-acre property on Musty Buck Road, now devastated by the Park Fire.
His parents, Rita and Jamey, purchased the property in 1979. The Autrey family since returned to the property, living on trailers where their home used to be, and are dealing with the devastation.
Autrey said the loss has been an “awful thing to try to get used to.” The wildlife has gone, and when he reaches for a tool, it’s no longer there.
As a handyman, Autrey said he stays busy working. Now, he’s got 250 acres of firewood with thousands of cords to cut.
“I guess I better get after it.”
Autrey said his most important lesson to impart is, “You’ve gotta have a plan in place for your friends and neighbors, and you can’t just sit in place and wait for the authorities to come and guide you to safety, or fire department. You’ve gotta be able to act on your own, you know.”
About this feature
Hometown Heroes is a limited series profiling five finalists nominated by community members. This week’s honoree, Justin Autrey, is the one selected for a $500 prize from this newspaper.
Source: Paradise Post
