Local firefighters among the many to lose their homes during destructive Eaton Fire

When the Eaton Fire spread rapidly, making its way into Altadena where it burned hundreds of homes last week, some local firefighters who have worked to protect their community from fires over the years found themselves fall victim to the destructive inferno. 

Between Los Angeles Fire Department Captains Jerry Puga and Al Hugo combined, they've battled thousands of fires for more than 50 years. Despite this, they both say they've never seen a fire behave in the way that the Eaton Fire did. 

"We all went to bed," Puga said. "No worries in my mind, I'm thinking, 'It's in the hills, it's gonna stay in the hills.'" 

He says that he woke up at around 3 a.m. and immediately smelled smoke. With no power or television access, he jumped in the car to see what he could find. What he saw was straight out the apocalypse — rows of homes on fire while fueled by incredibly powerful winds, which had changed the course of the flames. 

"Rain coming sideways, as burning embers," he recalled.

Hugo shared that sentiment of awe. 

"It's unbelievable, fire doesn't do that," he said. "Going downhill, fire doesn't do that."

He lived just a few blocks away from his counterpart, and had already evacuated his family at around the same time Puga was running from his home. He tried to return to his house but was met with the sheer force of the flames. 

"It was an inferno. I made it about 100 feet in when I brought my car back and at that point I knew it was a lost cause," he said. "I saw the whole block was gone."

Both Puga and Hugo lost everything in just minutes. 

"Still thinking that hopefully it's just a bad dream and I'm gonna come and find my neighborhood just the way it was," Puga said. 

"To me, what it makes me feel is the value of life," Hugo said. 

Hours after experiencing their profound loss, the two men jumped back in action to try and save as much of their community as they could. Video shows the moments that Puga, alongside his family and neighbors, fight a fire until on-duty crews arrived.