”
They called me the entrepreneur of everything.
”
Felix Solano has spent his entire life going around doing a
little bit of everything, as he likes to put it.
“They called me the entrepreneur of everything.”
Felix Solano has spent his entire life going around doing a little bit of everything, as he likes to put it.
He worked as a barber, a bartender, a cook, caterer and a grocery store clerk. But most important, he spent almost 45 years saving lives and impacting futures as a volunteer with the Hollister Fire Department.
He acquired a taste for the profession from his father, John, who was also a volunteer fireman and moved up the ranks to chief for a short time in the 1950s.
In 1955, at the age of 18, Solano joined the team as a full-fledged volunteer fireman and never looked back.
“I was working two or three jobs, but every time the horn would go off I would get permission from my boss and go to the fires,” Solano said.
For much of his life he worked as a barber in his dad’s shop, which was located across the street from the old fire station (which is now the YMCA), he said.
“Whenever that horn would go off we’d hop on the truck and take off,” he said. “A lot of times we’d leave people in the chairs and come back after to finish them off. They didn’t mind, because you were doing the community a service.”
In those days the volunteers were compensated with $1 per call – big money back then, he said.
The volunteers made sure the trucks and equipment were kept polished and in good working order. They helped raise money for those who lost their homes due to fire or other emergencies, and when people called asking for help, they obliged.
After more than four decades of service, most of the memories, both good and bad, are too numerous for Solano to recall. There are several that stick out, however.
A serious multi-vehicle accident on Pacheco Pass, where there were numerous people that were either killed or injured, took Solano and his crew up the Pass to assist with the rescue.
“We took the old milk-wagon rescue truck up there… and we were real embarrassed because we were going in that thing at 45 mph, and people were passing us doing 60, and here we have the red lights and sirens on,” he said with a chuckle. “They were passing us and waving at us. That was funny.”
The death and destruction of the accident they traveled to wasn’t so amusing. The wreck involved several large trucks loaded with peaches and tomatoes that had collided with other automobiles and overturned on some of the cars.
As Solano witnessed the people who had lost their lives from the accident, the memory that sticks out the most was what was underneath the twisted metal.
“We found a baby and its mother that were trapped underneath (one of the trucks),” he said. “We dug the car out… and here’s the baby and the mother, trapped behind the seats. They both survived. It was good.”
Between Solano, his father, his son and his nephews, the family has a collective 110 years of service with the Hollister Volunteer Fire Department.
When Solano finally retired in 1996, the average pay for the volunteers was about $6 an hour. The hours, days and years his family donated to the community through the fire department is a source of pride for Solano – unequal to any amount of money.
“A fireman does it because he’s devoted to saving lives,” he said. “It was worth it to see the smile on a guy’s face when his kid was breathing. When you’d go to a wreck and pull somebody out, knowing that when you see that guy the next day that you helped save his life.”
The rampant growth and problems the city is having with its services is a touchy subject for Solano, who believes there should be more firefighters and police officers to help balance out the need for services.
Moving to a bigger city with a larger fire department was never an option, and to this day he will never leave San Benito County.
“This is my home, my roots,” he said. “All the camaraderie here – you know everyone in town – people respect you for what you did.”
He now spends his days living a more simple life of a retiree visiting with his grandchildren and his many friends – but still helping out and giving advice when needed.
“There’s a lot of good memories,” he said. “It’s been a good life.”
