Refugio junior firefighter nails a "fire" prom proposal

Everybody loves a good promposal, but one junior firefighter really took it to the next level with the help of the Refugio Volunteer Fire Department (RVFD).

When Refugio High School junior Zechariah "Zech" DeLeon isn't on the football field or in the classroom, he is working as an RVFD junior firefighter alongside his father, Martin DeLeon.

Zech met his girlfriend, freshman Alexandra Andrade, at Refugio HS and they started dating a few months ago. They had added each other on Snapchat and were starting to talk when Alexandra asked him out to lunch.

"We went to Whataburger and got some food, talked about some stuff," Zech said. "Then when we went back to school, I walked her to all of her classes."

"I was so scared because I'm a shy person," Alexandra said. "(But) its turns out that we have so much in common."

Zech said that after that, everything just fell into place.

Initially Zech wasn't sure about going to prom, but he changed his mind once his stepmom Vanessa and older sister Haley started making suggestions.

"My sister brought up with this fire truck thing," he said. "I felt like it was a pretty good decision because its never been done here (in Refugio) before and that way I wasn't missing out on any high school moments."

They planned the promposal about a month in advance, and brought in friends and family to help, with Zech's dad reaching out to RVFD to see if they could borrow a fire truck.

Zech even coordinated with Jennifer Andrade, Alexandra's mother, to help with the timing of the promposal.

"I knew a little about it, but my daughter has no idea," Mrs. Andrade said. "I (just) had to make sure she came out the right way at school."

On Friday, Feb. 2 around 3:15 p.m. , Zech left school and headed straight to the fire station to meet his family and get the truck ready for the promposal.

They pulled up outside Refugio High School in a fire truck, decked out with a massive banner that read, "My heart 4 u is on fire! Will u be my prom date?" and waited for Alexandra to come out.

"Everybody is around the stairs to leave the school and I'm walking out," Alexandra said. "I see the big fire truck and the sirens are going off and I read it (the banner) and I'm like "ohhhh my God."

The look on Alexandra's face when she saw Zech walking up to her with the truck and banner behind him was one of complete shock.

"I was very shocked and so happy," she said. "You know when you smile for so long and your face starts hurting - that's what it felt like."

Zech brought her over to the truck, handed her a bouquet of roses and a stuffed teddy bear before they posed for pictures. After that, he asked her to prom and to be his Valentine.

And to no one's surprise...she said yes to both!

For Alexandra, it was a beautiful moment.

"In that moment, it was like a click. Like nothing else was going on, the sirens were blurred out, it was just me and him in that moment," she said. "The way he looked at me, its made my dreams come true. Life is a movie, and he can make my dreams come true."

Zech was battling some nerves while he was waiting to surprise Alexandra, but that quickly went away.

"I was nervous about the people and her coming out, but once I saw her walk out, it was just exciting," he said. "It was a lot to process it all, but I'm glad I did this, this is an amazing experience for the both of us. "

photo provided by Jennifer Andrade

Congratulations to Zechariah and Alexandra!

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