Firefighter catches a ride to post office fire after crashing his truck on the way to the scene

Brian Lewis vehicle replacement Gofundme page.

A firefighter was late to the fire at the Leggett post office on Friday night — because he rolled his truck on the way to fight the blaze.

22-year-old Brian Lewis caught a ride from the crash site to the fire, where he helped with the mopping-up effort. He’s borrowing a friend’s vehicle until he can replace the one that was most likely totaled after he hit a patch of hail.

Snow fell even at lower elevations over the weekend, and as of Sunday afternoon, Highway 101 at the top of the grade was down to one lane from the Haehl Creek bridge to Highway 20, due to snow. And snow accumulated on 175 between Hopland and Lakeport

The Leggett Valley Fire Department reported that at around 5:40 pm on Friday night, lightning struck a large redwood tree just outside the post office. “The tree was shattered and fell through the building,” according to a Facebook post by the department. Half an hour later, the post office was fully engulfed. It was a total loss, but the local market was saved.

The seven-member Leggett Volunteer Fire Department did have help from the neighbors. Caltrans personnel and firefighters from Piercy, Laytonville, and CalFire assisted at the scene.

As for Lewis, he spent Sunday morning driving around in a borrowed truck to make sure the neighbors were okay.

Friends have set up a Gofundme account to help Lewis replace his truck. It’s up to a little over half of the $10,000 goal as of Monday.