By Victoria Smith
The Alpine Sun

     Richard Varshock’s MySpace profile reveals a teenage boy, handsome, engaging, outgoing. A high school wrestler, he chose a profile picture which shows him standing in his orange Valhalla High School letterman’s jacket, a cute cheerleader on each arm.
     Richard last logged into MySpace on Sunday, Oct. 21. By noon that day, he was fighting for his life, pinned to the ground behind a rock outcropping shielded by fire fighters, his flaming Potrero home at the trigger point of California’s worst ever firestorm.
     Richard’s father, Thomas Varshock, already lay dead near the burning fire truck, its motor disabled by the fire’s smothering black smoke. Richard Varshock and the four fire fighters, all suffering devastating burns, were rescued from sure death by a helicopter pilot who heard a firefighter distress call, and miraculously located them all in dense smoke and towering flames making flight conditions all but impossible.

Richard Varshock, 15, a student at Valhalla High School, remains in the UCSD Burn Center.

     Critically burned over 60 percent of his body, Richard was transported to the Burn Center at the University of California San Diego Hospital, where he is today, on his journey to recovery.
     Meanwhile, San Diego power-pop quartet Pensive was on tour a long way from home on Oct. 21, when the hot and howling Santa Ana winds provoked the countywide wildfires. Their personal safety assured as they traveled through the Southeast, nevertheless their hearts and minds were home in San Diego, feeling the anxiety and fear their families and friends faced.
     All virtually prisoners to the news coverage of a never-ending list of evacuating neighborhoods, packing up most-favored belongings and waiting for the call to leave home. Having experienced the 2003 Cedar Fire (two members watching flames approach their own homes), memories and emotions surfaced as if no time had passed since that day.
     Although relief came for the members of Pensive as it became apparent that all their families and friends would be safe, a nagging desire to help kept discussions of the fire ongoing among the band. The perfect solution then came to them in a MySpace message from Richard Varshock’s high school friend Carson Pasto.
     He simply asked Pensive to help him put together a benefit show, as a way to rally Richard’s classmates and community. Carson further explained that Richard and his mother face a future struggling for Richard’s recovery without a father and husband, a burned down home, and no health or home insurance.
     The Rock For Varshock wildfire benefit show was born. The event will feature Pensive, Stereo Summer, along with two other San Diego bands; all playing for free. Alma Felan, owner of San Diego music venue, Hot Monkey Love Café, agreed to host the show, and donate use of her venue without charge, as well.
     A staple in the SDSU college area and favored by many fans of San Diego’s independent music scene for it’s intimate stage setting and all ages home-like atmosphere, the venue is merely eight miles from Valhalla High School. It’s an ideal location for his classmates, and the entire community, to come together to honor and support Richard Varshock.
     Also joining the benefit is San Diego music promoter Stefan Georgi, who is donating his professional time and expertise to the project, and is optimistic in his expectations for a sell-out of the venue that night.
     The proceeds from all tickets sold will go to the Varshock Family Foundation. To increase the money raised, Rock For Varshock is seeking event sponsors, whose financial donations will be tax deductible.
     Sponsors will be acknowledged on the official Rock For Varshock stage banner, and are invited to inquire regarding participation. Banner inclusion closes Wednesday, Dec. 5, to allow the banners to be manufactured on time.
     Rock For Varshock will be held Saturday, Dec. 15 at the Hot Monkey Love Café, 6875 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego, beginning at 5 p.m. Tickets for this all-ages show are $10.
     On Oct. 21 Thomas and Richard Varshock were driving away from their home in Potrero when four fire fighters in Engine 3387 saw them through the smoke and flames. Thomas, a 52-year-old geological engineer, was in his white pickup. His 15-year-old son, Richard, a wrestler at Valhalla High School, was on his ATV.
     Father and son followed a group of fire fighters toward their home in Potrero on the ATV. It was the first in a series of decisions, made in the span of just 30 minutes, that would leave Thomas Varshock dead and everyone else severely burned.