Beaver Fire 

That dozer operator's mental toughness saved their lives, as well as the leadership

That dozer really saved their lives. The last few passes the dozer made, dug the middle lower and made it possible to get cooler air and allow air flow to pass over them, instead of into them.

I was a line medic on this fire to the Division North of this incident @ SPIKE/DP46. This was the scariest radio traffic I have ever heard, and being mobilized to the division break for a pre stage in case of major injuries puckered me like no other. The video didn't cover the fact that thunderstorms had moved through earlier in the day, and in fact were influential in this fire. The fire had similar behavior in the days previous around the same time. I'll tell you what witnessing a sustained downhill crown run is the most impressive behavior I have seen in my years. By gods grace and through good training all are safe, and god bless. This area was a mix of industry land and NF. The industry HEQ operators had a burnover also the first or second day of this fire. It was a nightly show for the first few days of this fire as the behavior made consistent runs during the days previous.

I cant stop watching these

The only reason they're alive is because they could stay calm in a literal life and death situation. Amazing heroism

As a career firefighter including wildland I see this as not only essential for firefighters, but priceless to show non-firefighters what it's like when caught by fire and having to deploy fire shelters. These men are incredibly good at relating what happened and how they handled it.

These are some real good guys. All they were worried about was each other. Great job guys!

Those flame lengths are so insane! My anxiety was through the roof watching this! So much respect to those out there fighting these beasts!

Hats off to those guys. They're the definition of 'real men'.

These men are incredibly brave, heroes. So happy it was a good outcome. I couldn’t imagine the terror being in that situation. Firefighters and true heroes. ❤️🙏

"Sorry I got you into this kid." "Aw hell this is nothing.....wooo...damn.'..he says while backing up. Kudos to Tommy for the video because I've never seen video from an area with a crown fire of this magnitude totally surrounding it. The area seemed big enough to me until it was surrounded. Admire the balls on these folks and have nothing but mad respect for all who do this extremely important and dangerous job...Congress should apprrove higher wages and more benefits...but the assholes probably won't until it directly affects them....if then!

I just went through fire shelter training 2 days ago This is a great video to reinforce that training.

These men are real heroes, the celebrities you see Hollywood are not.

"oh hell this is nothin!" Hats off to you guys thank God you survived

Very good telling from the guys how to behave when you are inside the furnace, don´t panic at any time. Guess that is quite hard.

Fantastic documentary. I have a new understanding of the seriousness of this business.

Glad these guys made it out alive. Big massive Thank you to the fire fighters and teams who risk their lives to protect us. Stay safe, keep training, be smart, believe in yourselves and come home. I am not a firefighter but because of you have applied to join a SAR team as a volunteer, as my way of paying it forward. Thankyou

Tommy’s shelter wasn’t going to take much more… Glad you are all here with us.

wow i did not even know about fire shelters, those things are amazing to let them live and actually be comfortable inside such a huge fire!

Tom was a good fireman, had fun wrking with him on the El Dorado- He is a risk taker but we always made it out safely- I got my USFS faller certification from Tom, we ran a crew for three years together and It would be fun to see him again, he's one heck of a good drummer too! EDNF E522- 523- knb 662

Thank you. I vote this video becomes the required fire shelter training video. Many things to learn and extremely well articulated by Tom and the other gentlemen.

I really want to hear stories from all three of them, I mean this is so interesting! This could have been tragic but thank god things turned out the way they did, great learning experience.

Tom saved the lives of the other two. He is a hero. Had he not been their the space may have been to small and they may have deployed their shelters to lste. Regarding the fire shelters they should make every person fighting a fire practice a few times unfolding the shelters right before they go to work on the fire line.

Thank you for your service to the community. I worked for the US Forest Service in my youth - always respected the training provided and required by our leaders. Thank you.

Awwww Tommy, "Heck this is nothing." The youth of American could learn some things from that young man.

This was an incredible story, scary, terrifying, but hearing how they survived due to their shelters was impressive. Like they said trusting your equipment and remaining calm is what saved their lives. When talking about a sustained downhill crown was what I believed happened in the Waldo Canyon Fire outside of Colorado Springs in June 2012. A microburst led to that fire racing down the mountain side and into Mountain Shadows housing area, but luckily no firefighters were on that side. Watching that fire come over the ridge above that housing area and race downhill into those homes was terrifying. In total I think around 364 homes were lost. I will never look at Forest Fire Fighting the same.

The wisest statement of all " Your trainings' got to be your core". Thanks- I'll keep strong focus on that and will bump it down the line.

I was on a type 2 crew at this fire, i remembered hearing this on my squad bosses radio. That fire was screaming that day, its crazy that 7 years later I'm watching this.

Amazing story. Your training certainly saved your lives. You said: " I never knew anyone who survived in a shelter." Well Sir, you do now ;)

Thank you for reflecting on your experiences through this fire. Powerful.

Thank you for posting your video . Greatful you and your swamper are okay. brings back memories . I always trusted my operator. He was always calm , so I remained calm. Happy trails.

Awesome pictures and footage, now there is a yardstick for everyone, when you deploy.

Tommy saying this is nothing with all that fire around them after the other Tom said I'm sorry I got you into this kid has a serious pair on him. Glad they all survived.

Thanks for the time and effort for all involved to present this valuable lesson.

Very powerful story, thank you all for sharing.

Not sure why this was in my recommendations, but it was really interesting. Thanks for all you do!

Men who look to be ordinary who are far from being ordinary.

I love these videos.

By far, the most amazing video I have seen ......🆘🔥❤️😇🙏🏽

California does one thing really well 100% of the time.....trains completely reliable fire fighters who always communicate everything you have to know in 5 seconds or less.

Brave men and heroes all the way!!!!

Powerful video. Good, solid advice for anybody who works the line.

We NEED to supply our fire fighters with more funding. They deserve it.

These guys are ANGELS from above‼️

One of my friends lost everything in the Paradise Fire. They at least saved their 4 cats. Their house still isn't built.

"Ah hell this is nothin." Not the least bit worried or afraid. The heart of a warrior.

Well done! I often wondered if their would be alittle more insight and especially a Lessons Learned about this event ever since i saw the first dramatic footage from this burnover alittle over two years ago. It is amazing to see just how effective great training and extinct guided these three men through what could have been a far worse incident. Thank you for sharing!

Braver than I. God bless you good men.

When things need to get done. The fewest words are king. No questions just trust in your comrades

Every person living in wildfire areas needs to watch this. It makes it perfectly clear that if you don't evacuate you won't survive the fire. Even if you have defensible space.

I’m sorry I got you into this kid. Tommy: ah this is nothing…DANG….Wooooooo I can’t imagine what that feeling would feel like.

One of the most important lessons is seeing that the vehicle survived. Vehicles survived at Camp 16/Station fire, Mudd fire, 30 mile fire. We need to understand how much heat vehicles can take so we understand when they might be a better option than a shelter.

I gotta tell you at 12:19 that wall of flame coming at them ! I think besides these firefighters being brave they have A FEW SCREWS LOOSE ! Heck with those green pants i propose a new color BROWN ! 😆

Thanks you three, great job!

Everyone was amazing. What heros. What a horrific as hell situation. I can't imagine.

Thank you. For being you ❤️❤️🇨🇦

thank you for your service

You know or even possibly after you got your area cleared out to take that Dozer blade and make a big berm she have like a3/4 foot spot in between and then perm it up around you so that you have your sensually inside with a perm all the way around you, I don't know these are things that I would be thinking about if I had heavy equipment in a situation like this other than just clearing out a spot

God bless these guys

Wow, thanks for sharing!

AMAZING JOB BROTHERS ! GOD IS GREAT !🇺🇲

Trust your shelter! Don't wait to deploy!

The size of these flames is unbielievable !!!!

WOW. 3 lucky guys!!!

Angels were around you all

11:26 real hard feelings right there but he did the best with what they had.

Tommy, Your massive balls are what shielded you all from the fire. "aw hail thisiz nuhthin! Wooo ouch"

Real ‘’TRUE GRIT’’✨🌟✨🌟✨✨🌟✨🌟❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Just incredable!!#

Most intense deployment

Fire behavior course needed 😌

I still dont understand why they don't use the dozers to push the dirt into a berm at their mid forest safety zones. It would make a big difference at keeping the heat at Bay. You can even dig a whole a couple of feet deep so of they need to deploy, they can stay in a hold to keep the heat further away.

With 15 minutes to prepare a deployment site, I would deduct that would have been sufficient time to evacuate all personnel from all danger zones.

The plow could have dug a decent hole for them to shelter. Hindsight 20/20

Is the Tony Petrilli in the credits the same Tony Petrilli from the South Canyon fire?

I wonder if they had built burrows into the land so that they laid lower than grou d level of that would have helped with the heat and air quality.

i'm just someone with no knowledge so don't take this question the wrong way, but i was curious why wouldn't the dozer try to dig a trench or make walls of dirt for them to hide in?

In such towns closed in like that and fires coming to destroy everything makes me wonder why not build a underground bunker with a long tunnel and call for the whole town to get down into the Bunker, the homes will be destroyed but not their lives will at least be saved.

Somebody needs to stat training all wildfire dozer operators on the technique of SLOT DOZING.

I wonder if them fire resistance shelter bags are any different then wrapping a potato with aluminum foil and placing it inside a hot oven.

DAMN!!

I've dough wildfires but thank god we never had to deploy shelters wild land ff need to make what so entertainers n sports players make these really are all stars

Opening music sounds like it's from the movie "The Wraith"...

Scary

The most confusing thing in the situations I have seen in these videos is that any of the crew doesn't have breathing apparatuses, not even gas masks to prevent them inhaling superheated gases. They have bulldozers and sandy terrain, but they are not making heat barriers nor protective trenches. There are alot of heavy transport vehicles, but none of them having heat protective cabin for crew. Have not seen any forest harvesters working in these areas for quick clearing of combustable material. Just can't understand why they let these brave men die in vain.

BEKKFAST!

Question on having the dozer and deploying the shelters - what impact would having scraped a trench have had on the shelters, then deploying in the trench? It seems direct radiant heat would be reduced, but would winds change or noxious gasses be concentrated?

I'm no forester, or hotshot, but could they use a feller/buncher to create line?

I'm wondering in that situation if you had it like a backhoe to there to dig a big old ditch big big narrow ditch that you could you know like 8 feet deep it would fit these guys and then they could possibly stick the Dozer blade over it leaving in a few weeks they had to get out of the ditch that could it seems if you're eight feet in the whole even if that fire rush over them they would be pretty well-protected

Great video! I was wondering, would it be possible to do an airlift? Like could they send a helicopter in and lower a basket for the guys? Because it took the strike team 3 hrs to get in, and the fire seemed to have died down enough that the rising heat wouldn't be to much. There a reason this can't be done? Just curious

Make a barrier : POP the tires🧷🪒⚫⚫🔘🔘, to drop the vehicles to the ground.⏬

Do they actually train you guys with wind to simulate the 50mile an hour wind gusts when deploying your shelters..... how about simulating smoke and heat so firefighters actually have a hint about what it is going to be like for themselves? And do wildland firefighters actually have a checklist to remember when they have deployed to keep their minds occupied to prevent their instincts taking over and possibly getting them killed should they leave their shelters too early eg Like dig a breathing hole, check in with the others in their shelters every minute, try and make a joke something

If the Dozer makes a wall of dirt and gouges a big divet into the earth for a place to deploy... that may make things better..

That safety area saved their ass's

Why didn't they just get out of there in the 1st place?

I've heard of a bush fire ,but a beaver fire?

5 o'clock is not 1500 hours it is 1700.

I live in Arkansas too I wonder what area he was in I’m in northwest Arkansas

5:36 5 o'clock is not 1500 hours

Some of these guys are not from California; heck, I don't even think they're from the West. Do they get deployed in different states?