REV water polo player Jackson Kane survives Paradise’s deadly Camp Fire, then finds a home in Redlands

REDLANDS – Redlands East Valley High water polo player Jackson Kane receives a pass and elevates his 6-foot-3, 190-pound body out of the water. He shoots and the ball disappears into the goal.

The practice drill is routine, familiar, and unremarkable – a stark contrast to the road Jackson traveled to get here.

Jackson, 18, is a survivor of the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise in Northern California.

The fire was the deadliest and most destructive in California history. It began the morning of November 8, 2018, and burned for two weeks. It caused 85 deaths, displaced more than 50,000 people, destroyed more than 18,000 structures, and caused an estimated $16.5 billion in damage.

It was a wildfire so devastating that it prompted a 40-minute Netflix documentary. A Matthew McConaughey movie, “The Lost Bus,” recently hit the silver screen and pays homage to a hero from the disaster.

“When I woke up that morning, I knew there was a fire and I knew it was unnatural,” Jackson said. “I could literally see it moving in the sky. It was like these big lumps of smoke in the air. You could tell something was wrong.”

HORROR STORY

Jackson sat on a bench by the Citrus Valley High pool (REV’s pool is being renovated) and told his tale.

That morning Jackson was at his grandparents’ house while his parents Rick and Julie worked. His grandmother took him to Ponderosa Elementary School, but the school was already evacuated.

“I called my dad and said, ‘Hey, I can see the fire from a distance,” Jackson said. “I can see the orange glow coming. You need to come get me. And he said, ‘OK, I’m on my way.’”

The school wanted to put Jackson on a bus with his classmates, but Rick intervened. That was the infamous “lost bus” driven by Kevin McKay who managed to steer it through the raging inferno for hours. McKay eventually led 22 children and three adults to safety.

Julie Kane said Jackson would have been on that bus had not a woman, thinking Rick was a firefighter, stopped him when he was halfway up the hill to Paradise.

“If that woman had not stopped him, he would have turned and gone back down the hill and he would not have been able to get back into Paradise,” Julie said.

Instead, Jackson was kept at school at Rick’s insistence.

Continued Jackson, “My dad got me and we went to my grandma’s house to get them out of there. Some relatives of ours had just arrived. We had to tell them to stop unpacking. We helped them pack their stuff and we left.”

Squirming uncomfortably on the bench, Jackson’s voice took a somber tone.

“This is the most difficult thing for me,” he said. “We tried to go back to my house to salvage some stuff, but the main reason was because I had a Boxer (a dog named Sugar Ray). We tried to go back and get him but the traffic on both sides of the road blocked us. So we pretty much lost everything. Everything burned.”

Jackson’s family and his grandparents Lou Ann Strachan and the late Walter Strachan lost their homes. That prompted the move to Redlands and Jackson enrolling at Redlands Adventist Academy where he said he “didn’t fit in.”

HOME SWEET HOME

A tragic fire. The loss of a home and friends. Moving. It was all jarring for a young boy.

“In terms of losing the house it was very said,” he said. “Besides losing my dog, the other thing is that it happened to me at a very formative age. I was starting to mature at that point, and I had a lot of friends. But when we moved to Redlands and I went to a new school, I didn’t really know anyone.”

Recalled Julie, “It was a big do-over. I think it had a bigger effect on him than we thought at the time."

Jackson after two years transferred from Redlands Adventist to Moore Middle School, a fortuitous move. “I felt like I fit in there better,” Jackson said. "I met some nice people.”

Jackson also discovered water polo, thanks to his current high school coach Ryan Williams who also guides the Renegades club team.

“Water polo has been an outlet for Jackson,” Williams said. “I think he played baseball and football in Paradise. And now it’s something he loves, and I think he’ll go on to play it in college.”

The Kanes are Seventh Day Adventists. Jackson received his full immersion baptism at 12 years old at the Leoni Meadows Youth Camp near Placerville in Northern California.

“Jackson made sort of a secular comment about it,” Julie said. “He said, ‘It’s a new start for me.’”

He wasn’t wrong. The 18-year-old has friends again. He attends REV football games. He has a job as a lifeguard. He also visits current neighbors and former Paradise residents Denton and Denise Gruzensky. He enjoys playing with their four adopted children.

“Jackson is way older than them, but they adore him,” Julie said. “But after a while he’ll say, ‘OK that’s enough. I need a break.’’’

Last season Jackson made All-Citrus Belt League honorable mention in water polo. He has a 3.5 grade point average. He will be in the starting lineup at center when the Wildcats visit Citrus Valley at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25 in a CBL game.

Although Paradise was an ordeal for Jackson and his family, he does not question it.

“I never asked ‘why me?’” he said. “Things happen like this to people. I’m no different than others who have experienced it. The only thing that hurt was the idea I would lose everything, and I did.”

Asked if he has found a home in Redlands, Jackson said, “Every year at school has been better for making friends. Moore is where I discovered water polo. If it wasn’t for a free Renegades’ two-week camp, I never would have known about water polo. And we’re very happy in our new home in Redlands.”