The Orange County, California, fire chief had to use milk and beer to save two Los Angeles homes — including his own brother’s — from the raging flames when the neighborhood’s hydrants ran dry.
Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Chief Brian Fennessy, who has nearly 50 years of experience, told ABC7 that he initially thought his family’s Altadena home would be safe when the Eaton fire broke out on January 7.
Altadena, an unincorporated community in L.A. County, quickly became victim to the blaze, however.
Fennessy recalled fearing “the worst” when his brother’s “phone stopped working” when he attempted to check on him.
“I thought I need to get up there,” he told the local ABC station:
When he got to his childhood neighborhood, he learned that his family had already evacuated, but the streets looked like “a total nightmare.”
Miraculously, his brother’s home and a neighboring home were still standing.
Once he realized that the neighbor’s gas meter was melting and dangerously close to catching the rest of the house on fire, he rushed to put it out — but he had no water.
The quick-thinking first responder forced his way into the home, looking for anything to put out the melting meter.
“I thought I’ll check the refrigerator and all that was in there was some milk and a couple beers,” Fennessy said. “Went back out and kind of ran back there and cooled it off and pulled it back a little bit.”
While he was not able to “completely” extinguish the meter, he said it was all he “could do” with what he had at the moment — and it ended up paying off.
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The two homes Fennessy protected were the only two left standing on the block, ABC7 reported.
Fennessy said the meter “wasn’t completely out,” and he “wasn’t sure if it was going to rekindle,” but it was all he “could do” at the moment to save the home.
However, his efforts were enough and the two homes were the only ones left standing on the block, according to the outlet.
It was highly “unlikely” that any other firefighters would be able to get to the street before it was entirely engulfed in flames, Fennessy said.
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“We tell everybody call 911 and we’ll be there,” he said. “This was a situation [where] you call 911, it’s unlikely we were gonna be there.”
Firefighters are still attempting to put out almost 40,000 acres of ongoing wildfires, which have killed at least 27 people since igniting 10 days ago, NBC News reported.
Fennessy said that the intense fires could be the “new reality” for the Los Angeles area.
“This house-to-house, these urban conflagrations, we’re going start seeing them more and more,” he told ABC7.
