A Santa Rosa man who decided to take a stand against the Glass Fire ended up saving his home and three others belonging to his neighbors.
For 16 hours, Jas Sihota said he used a hose to put out flames as the wildfire raged in the Skyhawk neighborhood along Highway 12.
"It was all the embers and the golf ball-sized fire that was coming out of the sky that was just pounding all the landscape and decks and fences," he said.
Sihota FaceTimed his wife while trying to save the homes he could.
"I don't look at it as heroic," he said.
But neighbors are calling Sihota a hero.
"A thank you is enough from my neighbors," he said. "I just feel sorry for the neighbors that lost the homes. I know them all."
Sihota said he stayed behind because his parents lost their home during the Tubbs Fire.
Reno Franklin of Rincon Valley was reminded of 2017 as he watched the Glass Fire crest a nearby ridge.
"While we were watching that glow and intensify, it turned rapidly into at least 100-foot tall flames," he said.
The blaze then barreled down the hillside, scorching everything, including a makeshift 2020 sign carved into the terrain.
"Here's that 2020, it’s up in flames," Franklin said. "There’s something kind of poetic about that."
