CALIFORNIA — Rancho del Cielo is an unassuming tract of land situated atop the Santa Ynez Mountain range. President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan lived there once, and now, plumes of smoke from the Alisal Fire hover ominously close. 

Reagan lived there in the 1970s, through his California governorship and into his presidency. He made a point back then to ride his horse every morning. He built the dock leading to the pond he had stocked, laid flooring and cleared fuels that posed a risk to wildfire, even then.  

Rancho del Cielo — now known to many as the Reagan Ranch — is no stranger to wildland fire. Since the 1950s, the greater Santa Barbara area has averaged one large fire per decade, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council.  

In 1955, the Refugio Fire burned 80,00 acres from Gaviota to Goleta. The Coyote Fire in 1964 consumed 65,000 acres, the 1966 Wellman Fire burned 94,000 acres and, in 1971, the Romero Fire burned over 14,000 acres, killing four local firefighters. And it hasn’t just faced historic fires: As recently as 2017, the Whittier and Thomas fires burned nearby.  

The Alisal Fire started Oct. 11, 2021, near the Alisal Lake in Santa Barbara County. And while it may be old hat for many Santa Barbara residents — many of whom are as callous to fires as the burn scars left behind these arid lands — this particular fire stokes fond memories for one USDA Forest Service firefighter who now protects the Reagan Ranch from any creeping flames. Be it fate or chance, Eduardo Chacon calls it “coincidence.” 

Chacon, 42, has worked for the Forest Service for 17 years. He is soft-spoken and modest. He chooses his words wisely, and with clear eyes he believes he has a potential to live up to as a firefighter, a father and a husband.  

“There’s a lot of potential out there. There’s a lot of sharp people — a lot of smart people — that have a lot to offer that have it more difficult than me,” he says.

Eduardo Chacon was born in El Salvador. He lived his early childhood amid the Salvadoran Civil War, a vicious war that left an estimated 75,000 people — mostly noncombatants — dead and an unknown number disappeared, according to the United Nations. His parents were refused to take sides during that bloody war between the guerrillas and the government. Several family members and friends of his parents were killed. 

“The decision that led to my family moving was safety,” says Chacon. 

At age four, he thinks, his parents — each with just one suitcase to their name — fled the country. Family members escaped to different parts of the Western Hemisphere. Some ended up in Guatemala, Mexico, the U.S. and as far north as Canada. Chacon and his family ended up in Los Angeles. 

Unable to prove refugee status, his mother urged Chacon to get his citizenship. In 1986, then President Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act into law, which granted amnesty to nearly 3 million immigrants. 

 “It’s a small world that the gentleman that was president that approved amnesty — which was the route that myself and my family got our citizenship — completes full circle where I am today,” Chacon says.

Today, Chacon is a husband and father of two children. He has been temporarily promoted to serve as captain of Engine 353, a Type 3 engine for the Los Padres National Forest. The engine he now commands is positioned outside the home of the same president who granted him and his family citizenship. Known as point protection, Chacon and his crew — along with the Santa Barbara County and Ventura County fire departments — have been protecting this ranch since the Alisal Fire first erupted.

Division Alpha has secured the fire’s edge south of the Reagan Ranch. The ranch is safe and remains in good hands. Asked what he values in his line of work, Chacon thinks before he responds. 

“The brotherhood that comes from the Forest Service — the modules, the crews, the engines, the helitacks. I’ve enjoyed that in my life,” he says from a covered canopy at the Reagan Ranch. “So, I’ve had a really cool career. And I probably wouldn’t have had it without the opportunity to become a citizen.”