Volunteers remove chimney that critically hurt Napa teen

A little more than a month after Nicholas Dillon was injured when a chimney collapsed on him during the 6.0-magnitude earthquake, the New Technology High School freshman continues to recuperate at home.

And he will not have to see the damaged chimney again.

On Saturday, a group of contractors volunteered time, labor and supplies, came to his familys residence in southwest Napa and removed what was left of the chimney, rebuilding a wall with plywood and sheetrock.

We are very thankful, said Nicholas mom, Catalina Dillon, as she, her parents, Gelacio and Socorro Rosales and her sister, Carmen Rosales, served the crew a homemade lunch of carne asada with guacamole, rice and beans, on tables set up in the backyard. This is kind of a celebration of life, Dillon added.

On Aug. 24, Dillon rushed in the dark to her son after the tremors stopped, as Nicholas or Nick, laid helpless in the family living room, where he and a friend had fallen asleep for a sleepover, he on the floor, his friend on the couch. His friend, Imanol Villanueva, was not injured.

He was flown from Queen of the Valley Medical Center by helicopter to U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where doctors inserted two bolts and half-a-dozen screws to repair his broken pelvis. After a short stay at Kaiser Permanente Roseville, Nicholas came to the home he shares with his mom, his grandparents and a younger brother. He is still unable to walk and faces another surgery in December.

Still, Nicholas and his family has been uplifted with the outpouring amount of support they have received from the everyone. I never realized how the community can come together so quickly, said Nicholas, as construction workers removed the last of the bricks Saturday. It gives you this feeling in the heart that warms you.

Eamon Griffin, president of Griffin Molinari Building Construction Inc. of Yountville, made arrangements with other contractors to remove the chimney at no charge. He did so after he saw a photograph of the damaged chimney in the Napa Valley Register about two weeks after the earthquake.

That really disturbed me, said Griffin. We kind of knew that they really needed help, he said. The broken bricks were still there. It looked ominous to me, threatening, Griffin said.

The companies involved also included Zerba Construction, Spinnaker Electric Inc., Napa Valley Drywall Co., Borges Masonry and Napco Painting Contractors Inc.

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Volunteers remove chimney that critically hurt Napa teen