Stockton Fire Capt. Vidal "Max" Fortuna's work ethic was matched by his dedication to his family, say those who worked alongside him.
He was a humble leader who never complained, stepping up to any task big or small. He remained calm in the face of chaos and was the first to crack a joke and break the tension at the end of a difficult firefight or medical call. His time off was devoted to his family, with whom he would attend all the firefighter functions.
"That is how I am going to remember him, as a friend, as a role model. .... He raised his family right and had an amazing marriage with Becky," said Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Capt. Chris Jesberg, who worked with Fortuna for well over a decade.
Fortuna was shot and killed while battling a garbage bin fire that was encroaching on a building on South Aurora Street in downtown Stockton around 5 a.m. Monday.
His wife is Modesto City Schools public information officer Becky Fortuna, a household name and voice to the families of tens of thousands of students who receive recorded calls and emails from the district. The Modesto couple have two grown children.
Max Fortuna's family has asked for privacy at this time; some of his fellow firefighters shared memories of him.
Fortuna started his career as a reserve firefighter with the Ceres Fire Department.
"It was very obvious from the beginning that he fit extremely well into the fire service," said Modesto Battalion Chief Rick Scola, who worked with Fortuna in Ceres. "Even at a young age, he was very well-liked and respected.
"It didn't matter if it was 2 in the morning or 2 in the afternoon, 20 degrees outside or 110, there was always a smile on his face, he wasn't going to complain."
Reserve firefighters volunteered their time on 24-hour shifts as a way to get a foot in the door to become career firefighters.
"We have had very few people come through in that capacity who had that work ethic and you just knew this is what this guy is going to do for the rest of his life and was going to enjoy every minute of it," Scola said.
Jesberg was a reserve firefighter with Fortuna at Ceres and they were both hired by Stockton within two years of each other.
He said Fortuna's dedication never wavered as he rose through the ranks to captain.
Fortuna spent his career at Stockton working at two of its busiest stations in the city's roughest neighborhoods, Jesberg said.
Station 2, where Fortuna was working at the time of his death, is in downtown Stockton. Jesberg said the company responds to a lot of stabbings and shootings and vacant building fires.
"You had to be aggressive, you had to be confident. ... Max was a trusted leader," Jesberg said. "There was never a time I didn't feel safe (with him)."
Fortuna went to Station 2 when he was promoted to captain. The station company provides the department's Urban Search and Rescue response for the entire city and Fortuna had to be trained for the specialized team if he wanted to stay there.
While he held senior rank at the station, Fortuna never had an ego when he was trained by other company members. "He was just a humble guy trying to tie knots," Jesberg chuckled.
"Max had a great sense of humor," he said. "He was one of those guys who never took anything too serious."
Station 2 has a handball court and it's a tradition for the company to play at lunchtime. No matter how late they stayed up on calls the night before or how exhausted everyone was, "Max was on that handball court every day."
"I wouldn't say he was the best player," Jesberg said, but "no matter how much teasing he got, he was always out there."
Even in tasks like cleaning up after dinner, Fortuna would assume roles usually reserved for "junior guys," like doing the dishes. He'd then joke with them about beating them to it.
Fortuna was a supervisor, but he always worked right alongside his crew, including on the day of his death. "He wasn't standing by putting someone else to work," Jesberg said.
The suspect in Fortuna's death has been identified as 67-year-old Robert Alston Somerville. He rents a space at 142 Aurora St. South, where Fortuna was shot, according to a representative of the building's owner.
Somerville's son said his father lived and worked out of the warehouse, designing and building food trucks. He said his father had been the victim of multiple burglaries recently and that he possibly thought he was being burglarized again.
The Stockton Police Department has not commented on a possible motive for the shooting. Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the department, said Somerville was arrested at the scene and a firearm was recovered, but Silva wouldn't comment on the son's account. He also wouldn't say if the shooting occurred inside or outside of the building.
More details are expected to be released following Somerville's arraignment Wednesday afternoon.
Jesberg said there is nothing that justifies the death of his friend.
"It is unbelievable and it's senseless," he said. "It's a huge loss to his family, his friends, his department."
Click here to donate to a fundraiser to support the Fortuna family.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 9:01 AM.
___
(c)2022 The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.)
Visit The Modesto Bee (Modesto, Calif.) at www.modbee.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
