Buffeted by embers, choked by smoke and enveloped in the glow of the most destructive wildfire in modern Los Angeles history, Lt. Romeo Petit faced a reality closer to hell than the paradise of Pasadena he’d known just hours before. “You could see the hue of orange and the flames — it was just — I’ve never seen a fire that big in my life and I’ve been a firefighter for 22 years. It was a pretty scary scene; it’s just surreal,” said the senior Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service member, speaking by phone from California Thursday afternoon.