CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) -- Several local fire crews have been up north helping fight the Dixie Fire, including Captain Victor Reeves and three other firefighters from the Chula Vista Fire Department.
Last Friday, Capt. Reeves and his crew returned home after two weeks fighting the fire.
"It's a different environment when you go up to wildland," says Reeves. "Timber was just burning through the Plumas National Forest, and what we did was start preparing for the fire to come to the town area."
Captain Reeves and his crew spent last week staged in the city of Greenville. They provided destruction protection around houses. Unfortunately, they were forced to evacuate when the fire became too overwhelming.
"Within one hour we were there saving and putting structure to fence around homes. Then the next thing you know we are being evacuated out. Within one hour the town was pretty much a destruction zone. We tried our best," Reeves says.
Two weeks fighting a fire that has looked like an insurmountable opponent, and certainly intimidating for those in the firefight. Capt. Reeves says, as firefighters, it's what they do.
"We just knew we had to go into action. We were looking in people's eyes who lived there, and they are driving through seeing total destruction. They want to go back in to see what they can retrieve, but our number one goal is to make sure they are safe," says Reeves.
The four-man crew from the Chula Vista Fire Department returned home last Friday, while another crew from the department, made the trip north as their relief.
"The fire is so big," says Reeves. "I think now it's at 480 thousand acres. So if we can make a difference right there saving property or someone's structure, we know we did something good."
The Dixie Fire has scorched 501,008 acres as of Wednesday and is the state's second-largest wildfire ever.
