LA GRANDE — One of the owners of a La Grande restaurant is recovering after suffering burns in a vehicle crash while he was fighting the largest wildfire in California.

Manny Vazquez, who with his mother, Maria, owns the the pizza and sandwich shop New York Richie’s, was injured Aug. 31 in a crash while on the August Complex Fire in the Mendocino National Forest north of San Francisco. The complex consists of 38 separate fires and has burned more than 800,000 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Multiple news sources peg the fire as the largest in California history.

The crash also took the life of his teammate, Diana Jones, 63, of Texas.

Jones was an emergency medical technician with the Cresson Volunteer Fire Department in Texas who had spent the last few summers doing contract firefighting with her son, a captain with the department, according to the statement the fire department issued Sept. 2 on its Facebook page. She and Vasquez were working for K & L Farms/Fire of Summerville.

The Associated Press reported Jones was working at a blaze in Tehama County when the fire became more active. She and a partner got into their truck to escape the flames. As they reversed the vehicle, it plunged about 15 feet down an embankment and slammed into a tree.

Vazquez said he was that partner.

He suffered third-degree burns on his hands, face and thighs, and an emergency aircraft flew him to University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento for treatment, said Heidi Gordon of K & L Farms/Fire.

Vazquez had surgery Thursday, Sept. 17, but his focus was on Jones.

“She was very amazing,” he said. “She was a great leader, a good teacher and she made me comfortable in stressful situations.”

Vazquez is expected to make a full recovery, but his road back will not be a quick one, Gordon said. A gofundme account has been established to assist Vazquez. The link is: https://www.gofundme.com/f/mannys-family-travel.

Gordon does not know Vazquez, but she said her father, Ric Gordon, the owner of K & L Farms/Fire, describes him as enormously popular.

“My father says that anyone who has ever talked to him just loves him,” Heidi Gordon said. “It seems like everyone who knows him adores him.”

Vazquez is in his early 20s and is a graduate of La Grande High School. He has lived in La Grande since he was 7. His return date to La Grande remains uncertain. But when the firefighter does, Gordon said she hopes to have a public reception for him.

“He’s a hero. He put his life on the line to protect people in California,” Gordon said.

People also can help Vazquez by making donations to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation in Boise, Idaho, and the California Fire Foundation. The Wildland Firefighter Foundation can be reached at 208-336-2996 and the California Fire Foundation at 916-641-1707.

Both foundations assist the families of fallen firefighters and firefighters who have been hurt. Gordon said Vazquez is a big supporter of the California Fire Foundation and noted in 2018 on his birthday he asked on his Facebook page that people donate to the foundation.

Heidi Gordon said a representative of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation told her it hopes it can do anything it can to help Vazquez.