‘Ain’t never seen anything like that’

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Eric Wilson, a fire engineer for the Vacaville Fire Department, puffed on the nub of a cigar. His face was smudged with the soot of a fire that had vanquished up to 60 homes in the sprawling High Valley community in Poway.
For 17 years, Wilson has fought fires. Never has he seen winds like this. His strike team had met its match. After the fight, they moved as if punch drunk, physically sapped, waving to a passerby somberly in slow motion.
“There was nothing you could do,” Wilson said.
Wilson took stock of the charred remains of a house they could not save. The strike team had arrived from Northern California about 4 a.m. As soon as the sun broke this morning, walls of flames bore down on High Valley.
“It was just flames, man,” Wilson said. “The wind was blowing flames from house to house.”
The strike team had to use bump-and-run techniques. If a house began to burn, they moved on to the next one -- the one that could still be saved. It was like fire triage.
“You just have to accept the fact that you can’t save it all,” Wilson said wearily. “We were fighting the wind. I ain’t never seen anything like that.”
Just then, the radio crackled, and the firefighters jumped to their feet, riding off to another fire front.
-- Robert Lopez in Poway