Casey Peck had never prayed so hard.
His fire engine was trapped with dozens of cars and panicked people as an inferno roared through the Sierra Nevada foothills town of Paradise on Thursday, hot enough to peel the firetruck’s paint and melt its hoses, blowing relief valves designed to withstand 900 degrees and immolating nearby vehicles.
Four people fleeing their flaming cars pounded on the firetruck’s doors and were pulled inside, including a nurse from a nearby hospital with her pant leg on fire. The firefighters pressed fire-resistant blankets against the truck’s windows to provide insulation against the searing heat, and waited out the firestorm. “Faith,” Peck said Saturday as he came off a 48-hour double shift. “I don’t think I’ve ever prayed that hard in my life.”