A Winnipeg firefighter visiting his girlfriend in California found himself in the thick of the Los Angeles-area fires, battling to save a friend’s home and those of her neighbours — including one who calls him a hero after seeing her home still standing amid the devastation.
Multiple wildfires are burning in the Los Angeles area, destroying close to 2,000 buildings as of Friday morning and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes. At least five people have died.
“I have never seen a fire that big in my life, and I have been a firefighter for 22 years,” Lt. Romeo Petit, a firefighter with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, told CBC News on Zoom from California on Wednesday. “It was surreal.”
Petit and his girlfriend were out with friends on Tuesday night when they found out the home where they’d been staying was threatened by the quickly growing Eaton wildfire.
“We bolted there as quick as we could,” he said, worried as they saw the flames on the mountain that they wouldn’t have time to get anything out.
WATCH: How Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service Lt. Romeo Petit responded to news that a California wildfire was at a friend’s doorstep:
Romeo Petit was visiting his girlfriend near Los Angeles when he found himself among those caught in the thick of a massive wildfire. One woman says she now considers the Winnipeg firefighter a hero.
They were staying in the community of Kinneloa Mesa, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains close to Pasadena, Calif. A California state wildfire map showed Thursday that part of the community is within the boundary of the Eaton fire, which was still out of control, while the rest is covered by a mandatory evacuation order.
Petit said by the time they got up to the home where they were staying, the flames were moving quickly, fuelled by wind gusts of up to 130 km/h.
They packed up some of the items at the home and took them to a safe location, then went back up to see if they could help anyone else.
Petit, his girlfriend and another friend started putting out hot spots with garden hoses they found, because local firefighting crews were overwhelmed.
They were about to leave, because it was getting dangerous, when they noticed a neighbour’s house was on fire.
“I said, well, let’s see if we can put some water on the part that didn’t have the fire on it,” Petit said.
Petit said as he worked, he thought about the people on the brink of losing their homes and the devastation that brings.
“All I’m doing is maybe if I can help just one person,” he said. “Just trying to help people, right? That’s what we do.”
They doused as much as they could and turned sprinklers on before making their escape.
“We put out what we could put out, and then we went back down the hill, and all we can see was a glow of orange behind us. It was pretty scary stuff.”
The houses that Petit fought to save were still standing later on Wednesday, the owner of one of those homes said.
Karen Freeburg said when she briefly returned, her house and others on the street hadn’t burned.
“They had stopped it. They stopped it at the road so it did not go across the street,” she said.
Her home is adjacent to the wilderness, so she has fire-suppressant sprinklers that Petit had turned on for her, and it appeared he and his friends had really doused the area with water before leaving, she said.
“Romeo is a hero,” she said. “Who knew that my friend … would have a house guest who cared enough to come up there and save her house, and then look at all the neighbours’ houses, too?”
Freeburg feels survivor’s guilt, though, because she has friends who lost their homes.
“It’s devastating for this community.”
