Buffeted by embers, choked by smoke and enveloped in the glow of the most destructive wildfire in modern Los Angeles history, Lt. Romeo Petit faced a reality closer to hell than the paradise of Pasadena he’d known just hours before.
“You could see the hue of orange and the flames — it was just — I’ve never seen a fire that big in my life and I’ve been a firefighter for 22 years. It was a pretty scary scene; it’s just surreal,” said the senior Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service member, speaking by phone from California Thursday afternoon.
SUPPLIED WFPS Lt. Romeo Petit
Nightmare blazes have engulfed parts of coastal California this week, razing homes from the Pacific Coast to Pasadena, causing nearly 200,000 evacuations and killing at least five people.
Petit, his voice hoarse from inhaling acrid smoke, described how he, his girlfriend and their friend faced flames with little more than garden hoses overnight Tuesday.
Their efforts likely saved a smattering of homes from a surrounding inferno.
“I was just trying to help out these local firefighters because they were overwhelmed with most of the city burning down,” he said.
“Instinct kicked in.”
Petit was vacationing in Kinneloa Mesa — a community in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains overlooking Pasadena — when flames from a nearby fire threatened to consume the home in which he was staying with Winnipeg-born actress Melissa Elias and California film producer Adam Stone.
According to California state wildfire maps, a portion of the community is within the boundary of the Eaton fire, near Pasadena.
The fire remained out of control with the area subject to a mandatory evacuation order Thursday.
Left without power for much of Tuesday, the trio evacuated shortly before 7 p.m. as extreme winds fuelled a fire that had already engulfed entire neighbourhoods in the surrounding area.
Local fire services, stretched well beyond capacity, had largely resigned to let Kinneloa burn, prioritizing saving lives over structures as the hellscape expanded, Stone said.
Inspired to help, and emboldened by Petit’s expertise as a firefighter, the group returned to the community shortly before midnight. For more than four hours they beat back flames with shovels, dug fire trenches and doused structures and surrounding areas with as much water as they could muster.
Stone described how “sheets of embers” cascaded from the hillside, causing parched foliage to ignite with spot fires in every direction.
At the command of Petit, they moved systematically from home to home, turning on sprinklers and providing updates by phone to concerned homeowners who’d fled to safety, said Elias.
“I was doing things I didn’t know I could do,” she said, calling her boyfriend “a hero.”
“We were just lucky to have a Winnipeg firefighter there, he knew exactly what to do.”
At one point, Petit climbed onto the roof of a burning home and peeled back shingles to rain water down on the flames from above, she said.
His efforts likely prevented the house from burning entirely, said Stone, who is friends with the homeowner.
Petit, Elias and Stone remained in the area throughout the night, returning to safety soot-covered and exhausted early Wednesday morning.
Later that day, they learned the homes where they had been working remained standing.
“That was awesome news to hear,” Petit said. “(Elias and Stone), they are the heroes in my mind. I was just helping out and doing my thing. Every other firefighter, if they had the chance, they’d do the same thing.”
All three expressed sympathy for those who suffered injuries, lost their lives or their homes as a result of the ongoing natural disaster.
Petit is slated to return to Winnipeg Friday, and is scheduled for a shift with the WFPS Saturday.
In the meantime, he is consulting with other homeowners in the area, offering advice on how to pre-emptively prepare for evacuation and protect their homes, Stone said.
“Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the devastating wildfires,” said United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg Local 867 president Nick Kasper, who spoke with Petit Thursday.
“When it comes to Romeo, we are so proud of him. We are thankful he is safe. It’s accurate in saying his actions literally made the difference and saved this community… he’s a fantastic person, a great guy and his actions embody what it means to be a firefighter.”
Petit said he plans to explore ways to continue assisting in the California fire efforts once he returns home.
The WFPS is not currently involved in any organized response to the California fires, and had not received any requests for assistance as of Thursday, a spokesperson said.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press‘s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
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