KUNA - The Kuna Rural Fire District has worked to protect its citizens for more than 60 years. However, now they’re asking for a little bit of help to bring one of their fellow firefighters home.
Captain John Charlton is currently stuck in Jakarta, Indonesia after his one-year-old son was put in the hospital and will remain in the hospital until he’s healthy enough to return home.
“He's answered the call thousands of times, it's now our turn to answer the call for him,” said Kuna firefighter Matthew Coffelt.
Charlton has served the community of Kuna for nearly two decades.
“He is the leader for our engine company and our crew,” said firefighter Dan Ziem.
Unfortunately, the group of four has now become a group of three. Charlton has spent the last three weeks battling tragedy rather than fire. His wife and son left for Indonesia after his mother-in-law became very ill.
“Before they got there that family member passed and since arriving there his young child, his one-year-old Arthur came down with an acute respiratory illness,” said Ziem.
The news forced Charlton to leave his crew and take the first flight to Jakarta to be with his wife and son.
“We thought he was out of the woods for a little bit. He was kind of recovering. He was in there for multiple days,” said Ziem.
However, while young Arthur was gaining strength to travel back home, he took a turn for the worse.
“He has since relapsed into that respiratory illness. He's had some exacerbation of asthma, and now pneumonia,” said Ziem.
Ziem says unfortunately the district’s health insurance isn’t covering any of the medical bills.
“The fire district does provide us with insurance. However, our understanding is where he's at right now the insurance is not recognized or usable,” said Ziem. “They're trying to get him into a PICU at an international hospital to be able to use insurance funds, but we don't know the stance of that yet.”
Leaving his fellow crew members helpless.
“We can't do anything for him over here right now and the best thing we can do is try and raise a little bit of money for him,” said Coffelt.
The Kuna Rural Fire District has started a GoFundMe to help alleviate some of the financial stress on their fellow brother.
“Do you risk it and take your kid out now when he still needs the help and try and make it on the plane flight, or get him really stable and then make sure he can get home safely,” said Coffelt.
The end goal: to get the Charlton family home safe and the Kuna Fire captain back into uniform.
“He said he didn't feel like he deserved it, which he is one of the nicest guys ever so he couldn't be more incorrect. So, I told him to consider me insubordinate and I was going to start it for him instead,” said Ziem.
If you’re interested in helping bring Captain Charlton and his family home, you can donate at his GoFundMe account.