⁍ The 1,200 men and women of the ‘Hillbilly Brigade’ came together this past week to fight the state’s biggest fire in a century.

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⁍ They are credited with saving the mountain hamlet of Molalla, an hour’s drive south of Portland, after its 9,000 residents were forced to evacuate.

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⁍ In a year when ferocious wildfires have killed at least 21 people and burned millions of acres in Oregon, Washington and California, the brigade has pulled off a miracle.

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– They’re called the “Hillbilly Brigade,” and they’re credited with saving the mountain hamlet of Molalla, Ore., from the state’s biggest fire in a century. The 1,200-strong group—made up of lumberjacks, dairy farmers, friends, and neighbors—came together to fight the fire with little or no help from the local fire department, Reuters reports. “We were left on our own to stop this,” says one volunteer. “There wasn’t anybody coming from the state to save us. So we had to save ourselves.” The Hillbilly Brigade “improvised and turned their pick-ups into fire engines on the fly,” says the local fire marshal. “They put stock tanks in the beds and used pumps to put out hot spots. These are just regular guys from the area. They are not trained.”