Not all heroes carry shields or swing from skyscrapers. Sometimes, they’re behind the wheel of a city bus.

As the Eaton fire raged through Pasadena and Altadena, Pasadena Transit drivers became unexpected first responders, venturing into evacuation zones to rescue hundreds of seniors from care facilities.

“Our transit team drivers faced unimaginable conditions,” the city of Pasadena said in a social media post about the transit workers.

The fire, which was reported Jan. 7, spread quickly, fueled by strong winds and dry conditions. It already has claimed at least 17 lives.

“We didn’t think twice,” said Erasmo Rodriguez, Pasadena Transit’s operations manager and the first to bus out there that night. “I was going, my co-workers were going, and we worked as a team and a unit.”

A chaotic scene awaited Rodriguez and his colleagues at Washington and Altadena streets: facilities in flames, residents in wheelchairs huddled in parking lots and nurses gathered around them. Firefighters and volunteers worked frantically while anxious family members stood by, wringing their hands.

“We’re familiar with that area because we service passengers there,” Rodriguez said. “It was a way to give back to our communities.”

Rodriguez is the “type of person you want on your team,” said Letty Ochoa, Pasadena Transit’s general manager.

“He’s a go-getter. He led the way,” she said. “He worked almost 72 hours straight nonstop.”

Ochoa said she got the first call from the city asking for help around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. By then, Rodriguez already had jumped into the driver’s seat, asking her to send him the address of where he should go.

“He kept moving, saying, ‘We don’t have time to wait,’ ” she said.

The wildfires disrupted transit service, but many drivers still showed up Tuesday and Wednesday expecting to drive their usual routes. Ochoa said she gave them the option to stay and help evacuate residents or leave.

“I told them, ‘It’s up to you. You can go home,’ ” she said, but 99% of her employees asked her what they could do to help.

Ochoa said she deployed 11 buses, sending them out in a caravan as the Eaton fire spread.

“Erasmo gave them that confidence, that what they were doing was saving human lives,” Ochoa said. “We were just full of adrenaline. There was no way anyone could ever evacuate that many people without these bus drivers.”

Many of the seniors, including those from The Terraces at Park Marino, MonteCedro and Camellia Gardens Care Center, were familiar faces to the drivers. They regularly take these residents to dialysis appointments or to pick up their medicine, for example, Ochoa said.

Fuelers also worked around the clock, ensuring the buses were cleaned, fueled and ready to go.

“This is not their everyday job,” Ochoa said. “It’s to move someone from point A to point B. These guys are heroes, without a doubt.”