Storm Rider (Forest Fire Documentary) | Real Stories

[Music] mother nature is more powerful than any man-made bomb more ferocious and destructive than any army every day she claims more victims showing no mercy and taking no prisoners anyway Chris that's moving I'm Chris Terrell as a filmmaker an adventurer I'm fascinated by extreme situations I never use a film I prefer to go it alone just me and my camera and now I want to confront nature head-on take my camera into her very doors I want to meet the people who live in the path of killer natural forces who choose to play Russian roulette with nature at her most particular it can be beautiful one minute and then kill you the next just don't think it can't happen to you because it can this time my fear for my life when I come face-to-face with that most vicious and unforgiving of storms the deadly firestorm well this is Southern California and for many a sort of paradise on earth but this paradise can very quickly turn into a living hell it's early autumn 2008 the heights of the fire season and the indications are it could be one of the worst on record with the high winds the low humidity and of course the hot hot temperatures and extremely dangerous fiery congestion which is gonna last throughout the weekend 30 to 60 mile an hour winds with gusts up to 80 miles an hour a long hot summer has turned Southern California into a powder keg wildfires are springing up everywhere which if left unchecked could turn into raging fire storms forces of nature so powerful they'll take out everything in their path to get as close as possible to these unforgiving theories of nature I've joined up with a team of firefighters but these are no ordinary firefighters every one of these men is a convicted prisoner serving as a frontline firefighter this has an alternative to being locked up in jail with a remarkable scheme run by firefighting agency Cal Fire and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation esteem that prepares these men for the most dangerous we don't know the situation until we get there there can be anything start off for Brazil brush fire into a big forest fire and I don't want the whole crew pulls together everybody works as one and do what we do best fight fires gangsters drug deals burglars and armed robbers this is crew seven one of a number of such crews who fight alongside regular firefighters and nicknamed the good bad guys that's real team Chris since its grass fire grass fire you'll really know what to expect roles and just going everything is stolen in the fire air attack crews drop retardant whilst the ground crews wade in you don't hesitate when it comes to wildfire and there are always added complications and hidden dangers to help prevent a massive explosion crew sevens task is to start back fighting fire with fire burning vegetation in front of the main blades to halt its advance hopefully if getting hotter and hotter intense heat coming off this dry dry very volatile combustible vegetation I can't tell you how hot it is right here it's noted unbearable if they don't stop it now this fire could get quickly out of hand you grow things popping in there Sam an old ammunition and spray cans yeah dangerous unexploded bullets high pressure pipelines wildfires are never simple affairs but today thankfully the wind had dropped and so the fire is soon contained just a couple of hundred acres tiny by Californian standards there could have been an awful lot worse the scene that's been left behind is nothing short of apocalyptic quite otherworldly I can't even imagine wanted to fight any bigger than this would feel like the Flyers that they can't get here thousands and thousands first fire good little start for it yeah this is a smaller but we're gonna go to some good one no one's in any doubt this will not be the last fire of the season nor the biggest California is set ready to explode Oak Glen cam home to the good bad guys one of 39 such camp statewide that house 4,300 inmates trained to respond to all manner of emergencies like floods and search and rescue but mostly wildfire here the prisoners divided into crews of about fourteen men strong serve their time some of the months others few years it's not so bad you know we got our TV room over here and then we gotta get that little weight set up in the back got a nice chat ha fruits pretty good it's not it you know it it's not home but it is home you know it'll do till we get out so you know I can't complain sure beats the end of all you know these men incarcerated as they are have learned the importance of working together and looking out for each other we're all accountable not only for us so before our crewmates you know we all go in there you know 14:15 depend on crew and we all got to come out together you know because we built that type of that barn together you know there's a brotherhood type thing it's better late than never you know that you get these type of things are still within you you know and these things can carry you a long ways been a part of this is a real dedication of man you know you have to work at it jump in it and do it you've got to learn how to do it and progress that and that's um that's what we're Oak Glen is unlike any prison I've ever seen rubbing shoulders with nature in all its guises it's located right in the heart of Southern California's wildfire country here the densely forested mountains are intersected by densely populated valleys that act as funnels for strong hot desert winds called the Santa Anas that blow every autumn when the atmosphere can be extremely unstable in other words right now now these wins on the one hand of course could be harnessed as with this wind farm behind me but on the other hand they can cause incredible damage not because of the winds themselves but because of what they can do in association with heat and fire as I fill myself in this searingly hot valley talking about the dangers of heat wind and fire I fail to see what's happening oh my god spontaneously the car it just caught on fire that's the nature of these sorts of temperatures luckily the wind isn't blowing too hard if it was we'd be in real trouble now because this this is going to go any second Here I am trying to cover spontaneous wildfires in the desert and my own car explodes in this heat great for giving conditions there goes the car great extraordinary I've almost almost what's worth to be honest a cloud of acrid black smoke spiraling into the sky is the best mayday call possible with the fire service on high alert there on the scene within minutes I have no idea why the car burst into flames but the fire service it seems sees this over time the fire started from underneath the automobile and it's very common for the catalytic converter to ignite the brush and in fact it's very common for vegetation fires in Southern California to start that way whether the car stalls it's out of gas or something push it in a summer time when it's very dry the catalytic invertebrates gets extremely hot will ignite the brush underneath there and you know it's the rest is history we're very fortunate right now we're in the desert and the vegetation is relatively sparse had we been in an area where there's higher densities of vegetation we'd still be fighting fire but I think the best thing is we're fortunate that you're safe and that the vehicle you know you've lost the vehicle maybe a couple bushes burnt and that's all that's happened and we can be thankful that very very minimal thanks for coming to my rescue all right it's easy to laugh after the event no injury and nothing but a spare camera lost but as I Drive back on the fire tender I wonder if this is a sign of things to come with temperatures rising humidity now in single figures and strengthening winds wildfire outbreaks are virtually sir back at Oak Glen the men on red alert know it's just a matter of time before they get the call but for me to work alongside them when that call comes and follow them into raging fire storms I first have to earn my place and prove my Worth and the door to crew seven I'm told is a hundred and fifty feet above me okay so today is my initiation into through seven and that initiation will consist of me climbing this monstrous tree that they they they pride themselves on their ability to climb trees so there's no way out of this I've gotta climb that tree if I want to be a member of crew seven tree climbing is vital to firefighters as they may well need to cut away vegetation to deprive fire of fuel so this is a technique I have to master as well as a test I have to pass you can call yourself yeah this is a challenge that I have been told will cost me much of the skin on my hands and shins but I have to give it my best shot [Laughter] it seems like a fair deal for the trust I've gained from crew seven and their complete openness with me there's really only one way to try to make an amends for your wrongs is to try to give back for me it's weird because all of my prison priors have been burglaries so for me to have an opportunity to actually contribute to saving someone's home or saving someone's business it's really like you know it's really real kinky no man it works like it's ironic cuz you could be saving a property in the former and the former time you might have burkle exactly yeah I mean you know being totally honest yeah yeah you know so it's just weird how it works out you know but it's really satisfying for me you know as an individual and knowing my history to be able to do something to give back you know it really feels good you know you don't want to be like this you want to stand up this program of firefighting and in prison you know this gave me a a great sense of being that you know what I don't have to be that lowlife drug addict if I can do this in here I can do something great out there what do you think your chances are Steve of staying out of prison my chances are are like 60/40 for or against against sixty I I won't make it forty percent then I will you know to surviving in society with society's rules and stuff you know you have to go to work you have to learn how to budget yourself and you get lost and you figure that it's easier to come back to prison you know because they take care of you how much of your life be spent in prison Steve right now about 25 years old now all right I'm 46 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] all right thank you from this moment I'm accepted as part of the crew but climbing the Redwood is just the beginning I am now put through my paces to get me fire ready at the break you want to pull that back you got a foot pretty snug on the bottom or the top there are specialized techniques to learn off the ground and on the ground what to do if fire gets the upper hand just last year five firefighters perished in the flames throughout Southern California small wildfires are breaking out vegetation combusting as fast as one is put out another erupts nature is gaining the upper hand and then it happens reports come through of a huge fire threatening a town just 50 miles from the prison camp at Oak Glen good morning everything Perkins along with Maggie McKay we've had a breaking news situation starting at about 10:30 last night it's a wildfire burning out of control in Sylmar we have 1500 acres that have burned so far for spacing there their crews seven haven't been called out yet because it's just outside of their jurisdiction I'm gonna check it out alone I say I feel I'm not happy ever iq7 with me burn sir this could be my last chance to see a really big wildfire up close and personal right now this there's a strong wind blowing ice to think about fifty to sixty miles an hour this would drive the fire onwards and nothing could stop it if it continues to come in this direction but if the winds changing all the time as well so it's very simple to predict exactly where the fire might end are the firefighters are in position with the hoses that's the police now ten able to get out of here because once this part over that Ridge says nothing can stop it it's going to take these houses out just hoping the neighbors out we're already packed y'all used to this other thing are you um it's happened a few times it happened like a month ago yeah but it was not nearly as close as it is now right so this this is a lot more scary yeah this is serious business yeah well good luck thank you I have pre [ __ ] right now we're waiting for it to blow over this Ridge right here hopefully it won't come over that Ridge but right now it looks like it's gonna come over the ridge and then that's good the way the winds blowing is gonna blow it south of here so hopefully we're gonna protect all these homes all the way down to the bottom of the hill and once it blows faster we're gonna pick everything up and then we're gonna go on the other side of the freeway that's about it the latest briefing showed just how big of a mess this wood is plate or extent to be losing anywhere from one half to one mile per hour fronting a warning now from LA County Assistant Fire Chief John Tripp our number one priority right now is life and people have to get out of the path of the fire we're trying to get people out of harm's way [Music] the fire soon reaches us and it just keeps coming by now 20,000 people have been evacuated the 70 mile-per-hour winds drive the flames relentlessly raging it's moving really fast the speeds of witches fire progressing through guacamole I can't say ever longer than mighty heart I go in shoulder-to-shoulder with the firefighters but as the flames lick at my feet I pray my camera doesn't melt in the searing heat so that meant blaze there it comes taking the trees the vegetation so friable so dry so combustible volatile you see that the whole tree going up there's a house right to the side of the tree farming now the firefighters are trying to douse a that with more than out front vocal by getting to but I don't think they're gonna do it come in come to the spoon smoke this is extraordinary it's a surreal experience stinging piercing embers are blowing everywhere some settling under the eaves of buildings invisibly igniting the underside of roofs the self in front of me now the shop availably now has had it it's gonna go they can't save it there's no way they can save it [Music] folk is absolutely choking like swallowing with the fire all around us I make my way into the back garden of one house under threat they're staying close to the swing pool a trembling refugee from the ranting flame oh they're the wild coyote seeking refuge Riesling 4 was probably and shocked maybe a little bit singed but this is alive a splash in the pool I turn around the carriage right now it's very fluid they can't even get an accurate count on the structures lost the guesstimate is right now upper around 10 homes damaged or destroyed store drink that's what the extraordinary if you had sitting myself I wouldn't believe to the fire could be this ferocious and this relentless it's been a long night and as dawn breaks we know that 500 homes have been lost in the silver file as I make my way back to Oak Glen the reports continue to come through of fires erupting all over Southern California massive wildfires many spreading towards built-up areas including one clearly visible from the prison camp itself crew seven have just been called we're getting ready to go out go through the gates there are five fires burning in California's very Californian truly is burning and we're heading for one of them about 45 minutes away so the guys are i revved up they're they're very eager to get into action put their training into does on purpose that of course there's always a slight nervousness because this is dangerous work this is a real fire but being prisoners fire means tempering liberation so spirits are high I'm ready [Laughter] all right you get a piece of the action today you know I'm heels up there yeah there is I think sighs yeah where we're going to a fire in Corona we don't know how big it is the last time we heard was about hunter acres plus and it loses some homes to seven a crew one or striked up together so what's it going to take for some action okay where you leave your camping or remember Santa Ana conditions stay tight no falling behind safety is everybody's job we don't know what we got we're gonna figure out when we get there stay safe man hydrate get out door camel pack right there I've been watching since there's some art there's someone for this morning the news and this fire this felt like man work let's go you know I mean is this get on the PCC beam let's go you know we finally got our way so we'll see what listen where the femininity comes out of man relax there's just a little fire you know I mean you know once then emails nice we're going to go right in the middle of it your eyes are gonna be water this forbidden I Drive more than an all-nighter looks like morning here we've been waiting for this is always [Music] surveys on this it's amazing to see this right here [Music] behind this is your Belinda an affluent suburban town of some 70,000 people but up to 40,000 are being evacuated in the face of a massive wind driven wildfire that has already burned thousands of acres hundreds of residences are now under serious task to protect structures so we already see quite a lot of houses burning out lost causes but we're gonna try and protect the houses that are still standing from the oncoming fire there's quite a task [Music] this is really crazy watch back watch back [Music] this raging wildfire is spreading fast some houses are already lost others now depend for their survival on an army of professional firefighters supported by inmate crews like route 7 but will their training be enough in the face of this one of nature's greatest Furies [Music] for clue seven is going to be a long and dangerous fight the fading is kicking in the guy's nothing is too real this fire is impinging on this house you take care of the branches if they have done in training many times and it's hot it's really hot [Music] these guys might have done wrong in the past but they're certainly paying their debt to society now [Music] it's all these houses a hunter threat they're all being threatened by the fire so the crews seven are now moving from one to the other as fast as they can to prevent the throwing crow tree any more than has done already but it only takes a spark and it takes an ember and the the game has left one house who said they're not going to say and of course this is what they're trying to protect other houses from now once these fires take hold this is what happens it's a big tragedy a house is a house that can be replaced but the belongings on inside can't the memories that's what's the hard part one day two kids out here playing tetherball now they're coming home to everything lost yeah late into the night and the wind-driven fire is not to be tamed it's spreading fast engulfing thousands of acres of forest and grassland the town is still in great danger true 7 after 14 hours on the front line continue to fight the flames hand to hand they must remove vegetation to start the fire the wind keeps gusting changing direction survey Farzin this way in that way and it tries to trip you up you never know who cut where you are with fire [Music] working right up against the front line of the fire this incredibly [Music] I got the rear man the fire at the bottom of this Canyon is now so immense that is actually creating its own weather its own winds it is in effect Fanning itself it's turned into a gigantic firestorm a very rare event and one of nature's most terrifying party tricks these could just be the dancing flames in a cold fire but in fact what I'm filming from the top of a hill some two miles away is a spinning tornado of fire hundreds of feet high and the surrounding flames are no minnows I'd be willing to bet the flames are over a thousand feet you see him growing up for one Ridge over there I had probably a thousand plus that's why I described it looked like someone opened a dam and a bunch of water came out but instead of water it was the fire yeah pretty remarkable pretty remarkable the flames climb the valley sides towards us feeding on everything in their path forests grassland multimillion-dollar houses true seven have only minutes to cut vegetation before the flames reaches and last-ditch attempt to stop the fire in its tracks what we're doing right now so we can save these structures there and back to us so it won't jump it fire seven earthquake Chris it's moving quick it's running they hit some heavy fuel it's just taking off you got pretty good wind on this right now it's gonna do its thing it's gonna consume whatever's in its path so now you can see that the flames reaches hurling their embers upwards crew seven have done all they can to reduce the vegetation but is it enough all they can do now is keep watch see how that wind is feeding the fire the fire does its best to leap the fence jump the path and advance but thanks to crew 7 it runs out of fuel [Music] the houses are safe at least in this part of town [Music] [Music] [Music] we want to thank you God that there was no loss of life we want to thank you that we have an opportunity to gather together like this as friends and family and and people who who know that there is a God and believe that the God you can take the ashes and you can really make gold out of it and we just pray for this family that we can be their support and their strength through these times in Jesus name okay hey man I'm sorry fire doesn't discriminate it doesn't matter what your property is what doesn't matter who you are it goes words once ago and it does what it wants to do if they say we control it we contain it a problem it's a living breathing animal that it doesn't care where it goes or what it does all that wants to do is burn fire eventually we'll go out but unfortunately the damage is already done here to numerous families that have been displaced now whose lives have been uprooted and have to be have to start all over again it is sobering to me that the cause of this fire was the catalytic converter of a car mercifully although 14 firefighters were injured no one has been killed but over 30,000 acres of wild land had been destroyed and over 300 houses and businesses have been lost but this house of the head of a burnt-out canyon was the first one true seven went in to save when I went back to see the house I told the owner all about door seven and she insisted she wanted to meet them I keep thinking what am I gonna say to these young men who have saved my house thank you doesn't seem to be enough but I think it says it all and I know could it get emotional [Music] [Music] what is all about you know here to protect people homes you know captain Dave Great Wall and the firefighters that were here what's your name just 12 hours ago the wildfire was on Deborah's doorstep but so were cruising that's why I got to start raising them up and cut some of the branches off the vase and when I know this is a huge community service you guys performed you've helped and I hope that spirit will stay with you of giving and I thought what would I say to all of you besides thank you and thank you such a small little word but I hope it says it all I'm so grateful I am so grateful to all of you and please go on and do good please with your lives I hope this will help you and inspire you you made a difference the men of Cru seven in fighting one of nature's most deadly Furies have touched a community and have themselves been touched in return what will happen to these prisoners on release is very much under them they might face a rocky road but maybe just maybe fighting fire has provided a glimpse of life as it could have been and still could be nature and her Furies affect people in many different ways [Music]

Channel: Real Stories

Views: 198,126

Keywords: forest fire, Extraordinary people, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, Amazing Documentaries, Documentary, BBC Three, Amazing Stories, Full Documentary, fire, BBC 3, Real Stories, freak weather, emergency services, wildfire, amazing weather, Documentaries, BBC documentary, firefighters, BBC Three documentary, fire storm, TV Shows - Topic, wild fire, california fire, fire documentary, wildfire documentary, wildland fire, south canyon fire, real stories full episodes

Id: twW8rgoM2Ks

Length: 45min 31sec (2731 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 17 2017