Firefighter surprises 10-year-old daughter after being deployed to California wildfires
Joshua Padron, an 18-year veteran of the San Jose, California, Fire Department, spent nearly 30 days apart from his family helping to battle some of the state's biggest wildfires.
When he found out earlier this month he would be going home a day earlier than planned, Padron, a father of three, decided to surprise his 10-year-old daughter, Eliana.
The result was an emotional video captured by Padron's wife that shows Eliana's shock and joy when her dad walks in the room and she is able to hug him for the first time in nearly a month.
"She's definitely my partner in crime," Padron told "Good Morning America" about his daughter, noting she had a particularly difficult time handling his deployment. "We do everything together when I'm off [work]."
Padron, who lives with his family in San Juan Bautista, said this fire season in California is one of the worst he's seen in his career. A fire engineer, he served his most recent deployment in the public information office, working to provide information to the communities and residences affected by the fires.
Padron said he feels "blessed" to not only have captured the reunion with his daughter on video, but also that he was able to come home from the fires safely and that his wife was able to care for their family while he was away.
"The story is the support that families have for their loved ones who are out on the front fire lines -- the husbands and the wives and the children who are managing and upholding the household," he said. "Everyone is focused on firefighters and they're out on the front lines, but the support back home and the impact that it has on families is really important."
