<\/p>\n
Firefighters on Friday credited Kevin Abeyta, 24, of Durango with sacrificing his life to save a mother and two children from a townhome fire.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time to give Kevin his due,\u201d said Karola Hanks, fire marshal for the Durango Fire Protection District. \u201cHe was on his way out of the building, turned around and said, \u2018The kids,\u2019 and went back in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Family and friends identified the mother as Grisela Picasso of Durango, and her two boys as Ira, 5 and Rivers, 10. Picasso was taken to University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora with respiratory injuries. Her son, Ira, was taken to Children\u2019s Hospital Colorado with second-degree burns to his left side and respiratory injuries. He was in critical but stable condition Friday, said his father, Anthony Martinez, who lives in Taos, New Mexico.<\/p>\n
The older boy, Rivers, was treated at Mercy Regional Medical Center and released.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like night and day between my two kids,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to think Rivers was in the same fire as his mom and Ira, because his (Rivers\u2019) hair is singed, he has minor cuts and minor burns, and minor smoke inhalation \u2013but he got released the same day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martinez said he met Abeyta about three years ago, and it was clear he loved and cared for Ira, Rivers and Picasso.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the face of death, he went into a burning building to make sure my boys were OK, and I just think that\u2019s amazing, and I\u2019m so thankful to Kevin for that,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cI think if he didn\u2019t do that, there would be three fatalities instead of one. I thank him, even though I can\u2019t thank him.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cause of the fire that destroyed much of the Tercero Townhouse complex remains under investigation. Firefighters received the call at 1:48 a.m. Wednesday and arrived 5 minutes later to find the building in the 2100 block of West Third Avenue ablaze. About 20 permanent residents of the nine-unit complex were displaced.<\/p>\n
Grisela Picasso and her boys were staying temporarily with her sister, Hilda Picasso, at the townhome.<\/p>\n
Hilda Picasso was a permanent resident in Unit No. 2123, which she shared with Abeyta and his husband, Tonny Del Solar.<\/p>\n
In an interview Friday, Del Solar said it\u2019s no surprise investigators are calling his husband a hero.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me, \u2018I\u2019m going back for those kids,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hanks said firefighters never doubted Del Solar\u2019s story, but they wanted to conduct a thorough investigation, including talking to people who were inside the unit, before endorsing that version of events. As of Friday morning, firefighters and police had no doubt Abeyta\u2019s actions saved the mother and boys, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cKevin was very unselfish and gave his life to protect others,\u201d she said. \u201cIt takes a very special person, a very caring person, to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abeyta and Del Solar opened Los Amigos Del Sur, a Mexican restaurant, in April inside the Main Mall. The restaurant was closed in the days after the fire but reopened Friday.<\/p>\n
Del Solar said it was his dream to open a restaurant, and Abeyta provided him with the motivation needed to make it happen. On mornings Abeyta dropped off Del Solar at work, Abeyta would assure Del Solar it was going to be a good day with a lot of customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2018Never give up. I will support you,\u2019\u201d Del Solar said. \u201cI\u2019m going to do this for him because he wanted me to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt\u2019s been so hard. Honestly, I don\u2019t want to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Del Solar said he was awoken by flames and smoke beside his bed about 1:45 a.m. Wednesday. He grabbed Abeyta by the hand and together they went downstairs and exited the townhome. That\u2019s when Abeyta realized he had to warn Grisela Picasso and her boys.<\/p>\n
In at least a half-dozen interviews, friends and family described Abeyta as a generous soul.<\/p>\n
Del Solar said he cared about the people around him more than he cared about himself. If there was enough food for only one person, he insisted Del Solar be the one to eat, he said. And he would do that for anyone.<\/p>\n
Finances were difficult after opening the restaurant in April, but that didn\u2019t stop Abeyta from comping some meals to customers he thought were more in need, Del Solar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t fine with that,\u201d he said with a slight smile. \u201cHe always cared about people, but he didn\u2019t care about himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The restaurant uses a parrot in its logo. To help promote the new restaurant, Abeyta went online and bought a parrot costume to wear around town and at special events, his husband said. During slow times at the restaurant, he would say, \u201cParrot time!\u201d and go put on the costume and walk up and down Main Avenue in an effort to bring people into the restaurant.<\/p>\n
His dream was to become a hair stylist. He practiced cutting Ira\u2019s and Rivers\u2019 hair, but Del Solar said he wouldn\u2019t let Abeyta cut his hair until he had more practice.<\/p>\n
Del Solar said Abeyta, a Durango native, was one of the hardest workers he has ever met. He maintained two or three jobs until giving all of his time to the restaurant. Other places he worked included Economy Nissan, Tacos Nayarit, Albertsons, China Cafe and a medical testing center in the Tech Center.<\/p>\n
He made friends in far-flung corners of the community, said Eric Kiefer, who was eating lunch Friday at Los Amigos Del Sur.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was concerned about everyone\u2019s well-being much more so than himself,\u201d Kiefer said. \u201cHe was the best dancer on the face of this planet and that was the least of his qualities.\u201d<\/p>\n
About six former coworkers from Albertsons had lunch and recalled stories of Abeyta on Friday at the restaurant.<\/p>\n
Tamra O\u2019Toole, who was his boss, said Abeyta was her favorite employee for his personality, work ethic and consideration for other people. He bought her a bottle of booze with glittery, purple liquid for her birthday, she said. And after he left Albertsons 2\u00bd years ago, he sent her a Facebook message thanking her for everything she taught him and not making him feel bad for quiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just couldn\u2019t not love him,\u201d O\u2019Toole said.<\/p>\n
shane@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n A GoFundMe site has been set up to help the family of Kevin Abeyta, who died early Wednesday in a Durango apartment fire. The site raised $7,063 of a $10,000 goal as of Tuesday evening. To view the site, visit www. GoFundMe.com and search for \u201c sacrificed his life to save others<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1480,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-72648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-durango-fire-protection-district","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72648"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=72648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}To help<\/h4>\n
\n Kevin Abeyta<\/a>
\n .\u201d
\n Abeyta and his husband, Tonny Del Solar, were co-owners of Los Amigos Del Sur, a Mexican restaurant that opened in April in the Main Mall, 835 Main Ave. A collection jar has been set out in the restaurant.
\n Another GoFundMe site has been set up for Hilda Picasso, the roommate of Abeyta and Del Solar, who lost all of her possessions in the fire and whose sister and nephews were injured in the fire. To view her site, search for \u201c
\n Home Fire Recovery Fund<\/a>
\n .\u201d
\n A third GoFundMe site has been set up for the Madu family of four, who also lived in the townhomes. To view the site, search for \u201c
\n Madu Family<\/a>
\n .\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"