A father and son firefighter duo bond while battling wildfires in Los Angeles

A fire captain from the Fresno, California area assisting in the fight fires in Los Angeles got an unexpected moment of joy when he ran into his son during a call.

“It was just a coincidence, really. We were on the same dirt road in the middle of nowhere and I just took the opportunity to go say hi to my boy,” Bryan Akers, Capt. Merced Fire Departmenthe told Fox News Digital.

Akers, who served with the Merced Fire Department for more than 22 years, followed in the footsteps of his father and great-grandfather, who were also firefighters. Now his son Mason, who is starting his first year as a firefighter with the Cal Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras unit, is following in the footsteps of the rest of his family.

Through his 22 years of service, Akers said he has covered more than 30 large fire campaigns in his career and was able to work a few with his father, but he didn’t expect to start working with Mason so soon.

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“It was something we hoped would happen during his career. But it happened a lot earlier than it did for me with my dad,” Akers said. “It took about six years before I was in the same incident as him and managed to get a photo. So it was just a cool dad moment for me.”

Akers said his son is with a great team and believes they are looking out for him as he battles one of the biggest fires of his young career.

“I just have to trust that he knows what to do. And I remind him… that’s my way of saying, ‘I love you,’ when I text him ‘LCES.’ That’s the acronym we use here: Viewpoints, Communications, Routes to escape, safety zones. It’s just my way of saying, ‘Take care, keep your head on the turnpike,'” Akers explained.

Akers said he was excited to see Mason follow his career, but never pushed him to pursue the same profession.

“I’m just very proud of the work he’s doing. I never pushed him to be a firefighter. My father never pushed me to be a firefighter. It’s just something that called us that, if you will. And it sounds kind of cliche, but I couldn’t help it imagine doing something else,” Akers said.

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“And when he told me he wanted to be a firefighter, that was obviously a proud moment for me. And to see him out there doing it now, I couldn’t be happier. It’s obviously bittersweet given the circumstances, our meeting here. But as a dad, I wasn’t going to miss that opportunity to hug him, tell him I love him, take that picture and let’s go.”

When asked how he would compare the Los Angeles fires to others he’s worked on in the past, Akers said they were very comparable in terms of destruction to the 2018 Camp Fire, one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires to hit California.

“It’s very destructive. It’s devastating for a lot of people who lose their homes, regardless of their status. But it’s quite similar to the Camp Fire I was at in Paradise. It’s hard to imagine just the sheer destruction and to see it in person, it can be devastating.” Akers said.

Camp Fire is also featured in a new Netflix documentary, “Fire in Paradise,” where survivors share first-hand accounts of living through the catastrophic 2018 wildfire that devastated the town of Paradise and became California’s deadliest wildfire.

Akers also described another fatal fire, Thomas Fire from 2017 in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, and how it compared to the Palisades, Eaton, and Hurst fires.

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“It was a different experience. We actually had wind when we were there. And sometimes you wonder how there are so many firefighters out here and how you can lose homes. I kind of learned first hand when that wind blows like it does, Santa Ana [winds]there’s literally nothing you can do,” Akers said. “There’s simply more fire than there were firefighters. It’s just hard to keep up.”

Akers said he is impressed by the support of the state and the entire country for all those affected by these fires.

“There’s been a huge outpouring of help from the community. The people down here are amazing. They’ve already been accepting donations at the fire stations and here at our base camps to the point where they’re overflowing and turning people away,” Akers said. “Unfortunately, they want to help, there’s only so much they can take. I’ve never seen such community support. It’s been pretty impressive.”

Akers, who was assigned to Task Force 5128, said firefighters from around the world came to the area to lend aid and help fight the blaze.

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“There are so many firefighters here. We’ve seen them from all over the country from Mexico, British Columbia, so many from other states, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and obviously all of California here to help. And it’s quite an impressive feat to get this fire under control,” he said. is Akers.

Akers added that they were also given Starlink equipment to access the Internet while on assignment, which he said would be useful for communicating while deployed and even reaching family and friends to check in after a shift.

“It’s looking really good right now. A lot of the time, the winds that they expected a few days ago never materialized. So that gave us an opportunity to get more of an upper hand on the fire. And it’s looking really good and getting better every day.”

Although his shift has since ended, he said Mason is still out there working on the Palisades Fire.