{"id":4098,"date":"2020-06-12T17:23:36","date_gmt":"2020-06-13T00:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/?p=4098"},"modified":"2020-06-12T17:23:36","modified_gmt":"2020-06-13T00:23:36","slug":"for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/","title":{"rendered":"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

The author of \u201cMy Daddy Slays Dragons\u201d and her husband\u2014the firefighter on whose experiences the book is based\u2014both attended Palomar College.<\/p>\n

RAMONA \u2014 In June 2008, Ehren Kahle left his wife, Stephanie, and two young children at home and loaded up with other members of his fire department for the seven-hour drive north to Oakhurst, where a wildfire was raging just outside of Yosemite National Park.<\/p>\n

He would spend the next three weeks fighting fires across Northern California, while Stephanie Kahle, at home in Ramona with their two youngsters, began telling them the story of why their father was away.<\/p>\n

That story was recently published as \u201cMy Daddy Slays Dragons<\/a>,\u201d a colorfully-illustrated tale, told from the perspective of the Kahles\u2019 son, Tehran, about the heroes who fight fires.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote it down as a poem in 2008, and I spent the time since then looking for illustrators,\u201d she explained. \u201cWhen I found the right illustrator, it just brought it to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kahle didn\u2019t set out to become a children\u2019s author, but she did study Early Childhood Education (ECE) at Palomar College in the early 1990s: \u201cThe teachers at Palomar were great, I loved them,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI wrote a couple of books in my ECE classes, and I remember my professor telling me I had a knack for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The right illustrator for her long-awaited picture book turned out to be a Ramona resident herself\u2014an artist named Karen Riedler: \u201cI know that other firefighters’ kids would love to have something like this, to help them take pride in what their dad does,\u201d said Kahle.<\/p>\n

Kahle transferred to Cal State San Marcos, where she completed her bachelor\u2019s degree in sociology. Today, the couple\u2019s children are both studying at Ramona High School.<\/p>\n

Now a Fire Captain and Paramedic at Imperial Beach Fire-Rescue, Ehren Kahle recalls the grueling 24-hour shifts of wildfire suppression, interspersed with long phone calls home.<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until we had kids, my job was just a job, but after we had kids and the impact of the things we see and do on a regular basis\u2014especially pediatric calls\u2014took on a different meaning,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing gone for long periods of time, especially during fire season, takes homesickness to a whole new level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kahle started his firefighting career at Palomar College in the mid-1990s, \u201cFresh out of high school and trying to find my way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After a friend was injured in a motorcycle accident, Kahle enrolled in a first-aid course at Palomar, which kicked off a series of classes that resulted in his joining the Palomar College Fire Academy and graduating with the 17th Academy in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

He now has 20 years of paid municipal fire service under his belt\u2014including the fateful trip up north which left his family with a legacy in print.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Kahle\u2019s second book, \u201cThe Stitch Bear,\u201d is due out soon, with an uplifting message \u201cabout children finding strength inside of them when they\u2019re going through scary situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten percent of the proceeds of \u201cMy Daddy Slays Dragons\u201d will go to the San Diego County Burn Institute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The author of \u201cMy Daddy Slays Dragons\u201d and her husband\u2014the firefighter on whose experiences the book is based\u2014both attended Palomar College. RAMONA \u2014 In June 2008, Ehren Kahle left his wife, Stephanie, and two young children at home and loaded up with other members of his fire department for the seven-hour drive north to Oakhurst,… \u00a0Continue Reading: For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10413,"featured_media":4099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9,23,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carousel","category-features","category-home","category-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFor Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home - Palomar News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home - Palomar News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The author of \u201cMy Daddy Slays Dragons\u201d and her husband\u2014the firefighter on whose experiences the book is based\u2014both attended Palomar College. RAMONA \u2014 In June 2008, Ehren Kahle left his wife, Stephanie, and two young children at home and loaded up with other members of his fire department for the seven-hour drive north to Oakhurst,… \u00a0Continue Reading: For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Palomar News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-13T00:23:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2020\/06\/IMG_4137.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1147\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pfingsten, Tom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pfingsten, Tom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Pfingsten, Tom\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38478049641ec4b9154ceafe0647a2c4\"},\"headline\":\"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-13T00:23:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":533,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/50\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/IMG_4137.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Carousel\",\"Features\",\"Home\",\"Slider\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/\",\"name\":\"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home - Palomar News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/50\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/IMG_4137.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-13T00:23:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38478049641ec4b9154ceafe0647a2c4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/50\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/IMG_4137.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/50\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/IMG_4137.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1147,\"caption\":\"Author and her husband holding the book she wrote called \\\"My Daddy Slays Dragons\\\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Palomar News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/38478049641ec4b9154ceafe0647a2c4\",\"name\":\"Pfingsten, Tom\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f9783a57a21bb15e96e120e3a61977e4d216b6b0141f53c142c85954086286de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f9783a57a21bb15e96e120e3a61977e4d216b6b0141f53c142c85954086286de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f9783a57a21bb15e96e120e3a61977e4d216b6b0141f53c142c85954086286de?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Pfingsten, Tom\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.palomar.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/tpfingsten\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home - Palomar News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home - Palomar News","og_description":"The author of \u201cMy Daddy Slays Dragons\u201d and her husband\u2014the firefighter on whose experiences the book is based\u2014both attended Palomar College. RAMONA \u2014 In June 2008, Ehren Kahle left his wife, Stephanie, and two young children at home and loaded up with other members of his fire department for the seven-hour drive north to Oakhurst,… \u00a0Continue Reading: For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home","og_url":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/","og_site_name":"Palomar News","article_published_time":"2020-06-13T00:23:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":1147,"url":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2020\/06\/IMG_4137.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Pfingsten, Tom","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Pfingsten, Tom","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/"},"author":{"name":"Pfingsten, Tom","@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/38478049641ec4b9154ceafe0647a2c4"},"headline":"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home","datePublished":"2020-06-13T00:23:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/"},"wordCount":533,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2020\/06\/IMG_4137.jpg","articleSection":["Carousel","Features","Home","Slider"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/","url":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/","name":"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home - Palomar News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2020\/06\/IMG_4137.jpg","datePublished":"2020-06-13T00:23:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/38478049641ec4b9154ceafe0647a2c4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2020\/06\/IMG_4137.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/50\/2020\/06\/IMG_4137.jpg","width":1500,"height":1147,"caption":"Author and her husband holding the book she wrote called \"My Daddy Slays Dragons\""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/for-two-palomar-alumni-a-story-hits-close-to-home\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"For Two Palomar Alumni, a Story Hits Close to Home"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/","name":"Palomar News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/38478049641ec4b9154ceafe0647a2c4","name":"Pfingsten, Tom","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9783a57a21bb15e96e120e3a61977e4d216b6b0141f53c142c85954086286de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9783a57a21bb15e96e120e3a61977e4d216b6b0141f53c142c85954086286de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9783a57a21bb15e96e120e3a61977e4d216b6b0141f53c142c85954086286de?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Pfingsten, Tom"},"url":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/author\/tpfingsten\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 07:02:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10413"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4100,"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4098\/revisions\/4100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}