George Diaz says he felt helpless dispatching the fire trucks to Sunday's deadly pile up.

"Engine 19 advised that they were close to the fire, they could feel the heat, but they couldn't see it," he said.

About ten operators were taking calls, with supervisor Sherry Sessor jumping in to help.

"As I gave him instructions to find a safe place, he told me, there was no safe place," she said.

Sessor says the horror wasn't over for those who survived the wreck.

"We had several callers who were watching others perish as their vehicles went up in flames, and they were totally helpless because they were pinned in their cars, and totally blocked in because they couldn't exit their vehicles," she said.

The operators said there wasn't much they could tell the callers other than help was on the way.

After two days to digest- on their first night back to work, Sheriff Sadie Darnell's message to this team-- what they do really matters.

"They did it incredibly well- and I am, I've never been so proud of a group of people in all my life," she said.