Story highlights Pals drove from Camarillo to Ventura to see how they could help

They ended up using garden hoses and buckets to save some houses

(CNN) More than 1,000 firefighters are battling the fast-moving wildfires in Ventura County, California. And for a few hours late Monday night, they had help from a band of friends armed only with garden hoses.

From his home in nearby Camarillo, Brylle San Juan could see the glow of the fires blazing through Ventura, which have burned about 50,000 acres in the Southern California county. That's when he and four of his friends decided to do something. He grew up in the county and didn't want to sit idly by as it burned.

San Juan said they jumped in his two-door Honda Civic and made the 14-mile drive north up to Ventura to see what they could do to help.

Strangers band together to help put out a palm tree on fire and stop it from burning homes.

San Juan and his four friends -- Matthew Serna, John Bain, Brandon Baker and Prescott McKenzie -- ended up on Poli Street, in a neighborhood where the flames had already hit. Several houses were on fire and a large apartment complex about a quarter of the mile away from where they were was engulfed in flames.

"It was kind of stupid of us to do so, but everyone wanted to help," he told CNN.

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