Winnipeg firefighter pauses vacation in Los Angeles to help fight Eaton fire

A Winnipeg firefighter’s vacation to Los Angeles took an unexpected turn when the Eaton fire broke out, and they decided to jump in and help.

“It was pretty scary, and it got to a point where we couldn’t stand the smoke and the winds were crazy and we just said a prayer and said hope for the best,” said Romeo Petit, Firefighter at the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.

Petit was staying at a friend’s house near Pasadena, when they were informed the community needed to evacuate. However, once they reached safety he felt the urge to head back into the danger zone to save what he could.

“It was chaotic and like I said every firefighter would have done the same it’s just instinct; you’re trained to do it and you have an advantage because you know what fire does,” said Petit.

In his 22 years as a firefighter, Petit said he’s never seen anything like this before.

“Just smoke, embers flying everywhere, leaves, debris, people coming down the hill and they’re honking at us; were going up, they’re coming down. It was chaos, it was just chaos and sadness to see these people’s reactions that they’re going to lose their homes,” said Petit.

Thousands of structures have been destroyed, and at least 130-thousand residents are under evacuation orders. Petit and his friends used garden hoses to fight hot spots and embers surrounding houses and are hopeful their work made a difference.

“Apparently one of the fire chiefs were saying we probably saved quite a few homes in that area for what we’ve done,” said Petit.