{"id":82013,"date":"2025-12-05T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T00:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/82013\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T00:01:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T00:01:08","slug":"tunnel-to-towers-honors-fallen-kern-county-fire-captain-wells-by-paying-off-mortgage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/82013\/","title":{"rendered":"Tunnel to Towers honors fallen Kern County fire captain Wells by paying off mortgage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has paid off the mortgage on the Bakersfield home of fallen Kern County Fire Captain Michael Bruce Wells, 51, who <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/kcfd-captain-bruce-wells-loses-battle-with-cancer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">passed away in January 2024 after battling occupational kidney cancer<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>His wife Lisa stated, &#8220;Having a mortgage-free home eases a financial burden that allows our family to focus on healing, thriving, and embracing life through the Lord\u2019s purpose.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Captain Wells dedicated nearly 30 years to the fire service, beginning his career in 1994 and playing a key role in establishing the Crew 10 Golden Empire Hotshots in 2001. He was promoted to fire captain in 2009 and was known for his commitment to protecting Kern County communities, said Tunnel to Towers.<\/p>\n<p>Frank Siller, Chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, highlighted the risks faced by first responders, stating, &#8220;Losing his life to occupational cancer underscores the dangers our first responders face.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Kern County Fire Chief Aaron Duncan stated at the time of Wells&#8217; passing, &#8220;We have lost a family member and a true friend.&#8221; Wells is survived by his wife and their three sons.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kern County Fire Capt. Bruce Wells and his family. Photo: Kern County Fire Department.{p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/7c4e683d-356a-48f2-b481-8361f450cb43-large16x9_BWF.jpg\"\/>Kern County Fire Capt. Bruce Wells and his family. Photo: Kern County Fire Department.Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/bakersfield-officer-navy-vet-receieves-mortgage-free-smart-home-after-medical-emergency\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bakersfield PD officer\/Navy vet receives mortgage-free smart home after medical emergency<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tunnel to Towers said it provides mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responders with families with young children, and builds specially-adapted smart homes for injured veterans and first responders who require such homes.<\/p>\n<p>For more on the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/t2t.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">t2t.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has paid off the mortgage on the Bakersfield home of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-82013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}