Mutual aid firefighters from the Central Coast recall the first explosive hours on the Palisades and Eaton fires

CARPINTERIA, Calif. - Firefighters from the Montecito and Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Districts have returned with front-line stories from nearly two week assignments on the Eaton and Palisades fires.

They were as violent as they could have ever trained for.

The winds were sustained, often in excess of 50-80 miles an hour.

Captain Nick Koepenick with the Carpinteria - Summerland Fire Protection District said, "the hazards were extreme wind,  power lines down,  trees down and literally everything was on fire."

Crews on a task force and strike teams were unified on the Palisades Fire and also the Alta Dena Eaton Fire. Both driven by virtually unbeatable winds for hours.

Andy Rupp, a Montecito Fire Engineer said, "when you have these winds, it throws everything out the window. We saw homes that were really designed to withstand fire down there and they were on fire.  When you have winds like that it is kind of a game changer."

In the middle of it all, Koepenick said, "it's loud, things are exploding, people are in their houses. Trying to get them out, it is chaotic and be safe at the same time."

"You can get stretched really thin, especially if each engine is committed on certain houses. They have to get back together and come up with a game plan to save a whole street rather that to save one house at a time," said Koepenick.

The fire crews on the front-lines say the winds were so strong that the water they were streaming, even at the highest pressure, was not going the direction they were aiming.

Rupp said, "so we're trying to get water all the way down the side of it and it is just not enough and you are spraying the water out and the winds coming perpendicular and you're not getting any of the penetration."

The firefighters were trying to find the safest streets to make a stand and also find houses with defensible spaces. "We were losing  more than we can handle but also we saved a ton that would not be there today without the task force being there," said Koepenick.

For firefighters in Malibu, they were on the beach with their hoses hooked to hydrants and reworking their game plans based on the conditions.

"We quickly realized we needed to be much more strategic on that. The fire was blowing from house to house within three minutes it would move through a house on PCH and be on to the next one," said Rupp. "There were fires everywhere. It was sad, devastating to that community, churches, schools, grocery stores, you name it. It was all burning down."

The winds moved the embers in all directions and that's when multiple destructive fires start and spread.

Rupp saw it all around him. "Those embers are getting out and they started a couch cushion on a patio  and the couch cushion is spreading to the furniture and all of a sudden it is making it into the structure part of the home."

The local firefighters all say very strong winds over 40 miles an hour are not uncommon to our hills and canyons and at times much higher. The 80 mile and hour winds are viewed as extremely rare.

The firefighters are back on duty after a short break and answering local calls, while getting set for a possible long haul assignment if another big fire breaks out in the current dry conditions.

Firefighters called to the assignments in the Los Angeles County areas came from Carpinteria-Summerland, Montecito, Santa Barbara City, Santa Barbara County, Santa Maria, Lompoc, Vandenberg and Guadalupe.

(Note: There are two video stories attached to this page. Click on each dot under the main photo.)