All language subtitles for Violent Earth with Liev Schreiber S01E02 1080p WEB h264-BAE_track3_[eng]

[siren blaring]

Police officer: I need traffic
stopped, southbound 10.

Steve pyne: Fire has
been on earth as long

As plants have been on land.

Police officer: Follow me!

Follow me!

Steve pyne: But we get a big
shift when a species arrives

Who can start fire at will.

Police officer: Go, go, go, go!

Go south!

Steve pyne: I think
humans have been changing

The earth for a long time.

Police officer:
Come down this way!

Come down this way!

Steve pyne: We've
lost the ability

To understand how
fire works and how it

Can be used to our advantage.

Police officer: [indistinct]
the fire has jumped the road.

This is bad.

Steve pyne: We've
mismanaged fire.

Now we get fires that
are really off the scale,

Shouldn't be here, shouldn't
be behaving in this way.

And now we're left
with these monsters.

And it is remaking the world.

Police officer: (voice breaking)
it's all bad up here, brother.

It's all bad.

Oh, my god.

[thunder crackling]

Welcome to violent earth.

I'm liev schreiber.

Scientists say
wildfires are more

Frequent and burning bigger.

In the past, a 50,000 or 60,000
acre fire was considered big.

These days, firefighters
are often dealing with

Fires well above 100,000 acres.

According to government
statistics, during the 1990s,

An average of 3
million acres a year

Burned in the united states.

Since 2000, that number
has more than doubled.

In 2020 alone, over 10
million acres were consumed.

The experts say 85%
to 90% of wildfires

Are caused by human activity.

Tonight, violent earth takes
a look at this roaring force

Of nature, starting
with the mega fire

That burned through paradise,
california, in 2018.

[police radio chatter]

Kory honea: The camp
fire was the deadliest

And most destructive fire
in california's history.

[shouting]

John messina: It
was almost 200 days

Since we had
received any rainfall

In that particular area.

The wind was very
dry and blowing

In gusts of 70 miles an hour.

Kory honea: The town of
paradise at the time of the camp

Fire was about 26,000 people.

Alexander maranghides: A
town built in the forest.

There was a lot of vegetation,
topography, wind, drought.

All these things
contributed to make

This event unfold very rapidly.

Police officer: Go double lanes!

Go double lanes!

And very catastrophically.

Kory honea: The fire
was caused by a downed

Electrical transmission line.

Camp creek road
was the nearest

Named road to the ignition.

And that's why this
is the camp fire.

Tamra fisher: Oh,
this is horrible.

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my gosh.

These poor people.

I've lived in
paradise since 1979.

I prepared for years
for this exact moment.

I knew fire was--

Was bad.

I've always respected it.

Tamra is my little sister.

She's raw, and she's funny.

This, too, could be you.

Tamra was not as concerned
about the wildfires as I was.

And that morning, I got
out of there pretty fast.

Tamra texted me and asked
me what was happening.

And I said, "get
out, t. Get out.

Paradise is going to burn down."

But possibly, the
cell towers were

Starting to burn in that area.

I don't believe she got my text.

Tamra fisher: Can we
please get out of here?

Larry laczko: Tamra had her
three dogs in the car with her.

Tamra fisher: It's 9
o'clock in the morning.

Larry laczko: She was recording
the events on her cell phone.

Tamra fisher: I'm really scared.

And I don't got that much gas!

She was stressed that
she was not making progress

Getting away from the fire.

Tamra fisher: Come on!

Just go!

I'm so scared!

[honking horn]

Todd abel: These fires, it's
very, very intense heat.

Ignite a tree without
flame touching it.

All at once, the tree lights
up sort of like a roman candle.

Paul hessburg: And when a
wildfire is really moving fast,

It can burn five to 10
football fields in a second.

It's millions of hot
embers that can find so

Many places to ignite a fire.

Sometimes the winds
are so strong that they

Are tossed up to five miles.

Brad elder: The
drier it is outside,

The probability of that
ember is going to stay lit

And the fuel that it lands
in is approaching 100%.

[police radio chatter]

Paul hessburg:
Paradise, california,

Burned from an ember
attack from a plume miles

Away from paradise.

Kory honea: This is, like,
9 o'clock in the morning,

And it's pitch black.

Given the smoke,
it almost appeared

As though it was the middle of
the night and it was snowing.

Ash and embers
began to rain down.

John messina: The
fire was moving

At a football field per second.

And the way it
did that, of course,

Was by jumping ahead and
starting these fires.

They would
immediately take hold

And rapidly grow into a
100-acre, 200-acre spot fire.

That was happening
all through town.

Alexander maranghides:
That resulted in the town

Starting to burn all at once.

30,000 people were
trying to be evacuated

While being overran by fire.

Police officer: Go
forward and turn around.

Turn around and go north.

Turn around and go north.

[bleep] this is bad.

Larry laczko: A firefighter
told tamra to follow

Him down pearson road.

Cindy christensen:
Tamra was behind them.

But the traffic stopped.

Tamra fisher: No!

[honking horn]

Larry laczko: Everything
around her was burning.

Tamra fisher: Look at that.

Cars on the side burning.

And nobody was moving.

Tamra fisher: Go!

It's so hot.

Todd abel: These fires, they
can be well over 2,000 degrees.

They melt metal.

They melt cars.

And you can hear her
dogs panting in the back.

[dogs whimpering]

Tamra fisher: Ugh!

And her despair.

Tamra fisher: What did I do?

Come on!

Paul hessburg: The increase
in wildfires in the current

21st century is exponential.

California is seeing its
worst year ever for wildfires.

Canada in general right
now for this fire season.

33.8 million acres
have already burned.

Brad elder: And
we generally think

Of fire as bad because most
wildfires are dangerous.

Mark finney: But
it's very important

To try to understand
really the essential role

That fire has in our ecosystems
and the beneficial role.

Steve pyne: Fire is not some
kind of alien visitation

On the landscape.

Fire has been on earth as long
as plants have been on land.

We can go back 420 million
years and find fossil charcoal.

These landscapes have, in a
sense, co-evolved with fire.

Kristen honig: Fires
are good for the planet.

They have lots of roles
in ecosystem health.

Brad elder: There's so
many different plants

And animals that respond
positively to fires.

Paul hessburg: The
varied habitats

Come from the byproducts
of a wildfire.

The forests of
western north america,

Including the western
united states, need fire.

They evolved with fire.

What is new is the frequency of
very large fires is increasing.

Steve pyne: It kills people,
threatens properties and towns.

They're essentially
uncontrollable at scale.

Paul hessburg:
Wildfires are burning

At the rate of 7 to 10 million
acres of the us every year.

This is unprecedented.

It's getting worse.

Paul hessburg: We expect double
to triple the amount of area

Burned between now and 2050.

Well, how did that happen?

[music playing]

[siren blaring, police radio
chatter]

Karen davis: I was a
registered nurse at feather

River hospital in paradise.

We received a code black--

Get patients out now.

And the flames were unbelievable
that came up the canyon.

My best friend, nichole,
was also a nurse

At feather river hospital.

We worked together.

Karen davis: Ambulances
were not able to get to us.

Patients had to be put
in employee vehicles.

Dispatcher: 10-4,
chief, go ahead.

Karen davis: After we got
all the patients in vehicles,

Nichole and I left
following each other.

Steve pyne: 1910 was
really the founding

Year for the american
way of firefighting.

Reporter: The big blowup.

A wild surging firestorm
started near elk city, idaho.

Paul hessburg:
The 1910 big burn.

It burned 3 million acres
across three states,

Killed 87 people,
mostly firefighters.

And our awareness and our
whole consciousness about fire

Pivoted in that moment.

Reporter: This is a
picture of tragedy,

A tragedy that happens
year after year

In our great american
forest areas--

Fire.

Fire became public
enemy number one.

And wildfires were to
be put out at all cost.

Steve pyne: And at
that point, we almost

Militarized firefighting.

Kyle dickman: We were
really good at it.

Firefighters could
put out 99% of fires

Before they grew
bigger than an acre.

Paul hessburg: And from
about 1935 to about 1985,

You see not much fire burning.

And it made our fire
suppression look great.

Steve pyne: And that was
a very poor judgment.

Well, they completely
misjudged the character

Of the overall fire scene.

Paul hessburg: What's happened
since the exclusion of fire

Is forests have gotten denser.

The forests of
today look nothing

Like they did in the 1930s.

There are 10 times even more
trees than that on the landscape

Of the historical condition.

And they will burn bigger
and they'll burn hotter

Than they burned historically.

And what we didn't
know in those days

And we've learned later
through research is,

Fire is medicine
on the landscape,

And it's how we can live safely.

And here's why
that's so critical.

It was the frequency of the
small- and medium-sized fires

That blocked the flow
of very large fires.

You might burn out
a patch in a forest,

But the bulk of the force
is still standing there.

Mark finney: Fires that just
burn underneath the trees,

Maybe some grass,
maybe some downed logs.

Paul hessburg: So there's
power in the patchwork

To regulate how big and
how severe the fires got.

So fires would be
rarely very large.

So after a century and
a half without fire,

Fuels have built up
over many large areas

To powder keg conditions.

But the worst part of it is,
we're actually building homes

In the middle of this mess.

And so when we get a large
fire, houses and forests

Literally go up in smoke.

And as the climate continues
to turn up the heat

And dry out the
landscape, what we

See after '85 is that area
burned increases exponentially.

And it continues
to increase today.

Fires like paradise,
the camp fire.

Alexander maranghides:
The town of paradise

Had not seen any fire history
in the past 100-plus years.

Paul hessburg: They're setting
new records for area burned

And structures that are burned.

And it's because the fires
are literally uncontrollable.

Police officer: I copy that.

[honking horn]

Tamra fisher: I'm scared!

Cindy christensen: Tamra
was beating on her horn,

Screaming to go, go, go, go.

Tamra fisher: Come on!

Cindy christensen:
Nothing was moving.

Larry laczko: Tamra was driving
a yellow volkswagen beetle.

Somebody shot a
video from behind her

Showing her out
of her volkswagen.

That firestorm came
roaring through.

It was unreal.

Her car was on fire.

She was screaming for help.

Tamra fisher: Help!

Cindy christensen: Tamra
was on pearson road.

Alexander maranghides: Pearson
is one of the top five worst

Situations in all of camp fire.

The fire overtakes evacuating,
gridlocked traffic.

Everything is on
fire all at once.

Vehicles start catching on fire.

40 abandoned vehicles
in that 6/10 of a mile.

And this created a very,
very dangerous situation.

Nichole's car was trapped
with me right on pearson road.

Nichole jolly: That tree could
come down on me at any moment.

This is ridiculous.

And I'm stuck.

[bleep]

Tamra fisher: Oh, my god.

It's everywhere.

In tamra's video, you
could see my white truck,

And you can see
nichole's silver sedan.

People just sitting there.

Nothing was moving.

Tamra fisher: This is
a [bleep] nightmare.

Just come on!

Oh, my god.

Karen davis: All of a sudden,
I could feel my truck drop,

Which meant my
tires were burning.

And right in the middle of that,
I heard a knock on the window.

Nichole got out of her
car because her car

Had caught on fire.

She tried to open the
door, but the handles

Were gone from the outside.

They had melted away.

So she ran off.

I had no idea where she was.

[music playing]

Greater than 100,000 acres,

We term it a "mega fire."

Some of the biggest fires
are a million acres or more.

Big, hot fires create
their own weather.

Suddenly, this really
white cloud start developing.

It was being made by the
moisture being driven

Off by the fire down below.

And in the most extreme
cases, they have lightning,

And they have rain.

They have very strong
downdrafts that

Can create very, very strong
winds right down at the surface.

Paul hessburg: Sometimes
wildfires are so loud,

Associated with the
wind and weather

That the fire is
creating, it sounds

Like a 747 flying overhead.

Tornadoes, they call
them "firenadoes,"

Will happen as a
consequence of these

Phenomenal surface wind speeds.

Woman: Oh, my--

They move incredibly fast
when they get up and go.

And they're really
quite horrific.

Mark finney: Wildfires ignite
from lots of different sources.

Steve pyne: Before
humans were around,

This was almost
always lightning.

Volcanic activity
can start fires.

That's a natural ignition,
we often call it.

Steve pyne: Humans
probably account

For 90% of the ignition
in the united states

And probably around the world.

Reporter: Investigators
say a wildfire

Near yosemite national
park was started

By an unattended campfire.

Reporter: Power lines
were blamed for starting

10 fires this year.

Violent and explosive
wildfires in hawaii

Fueled by strong winds from
a hurricane 800 miles away.

Reporter: Maui locals have never
seen anything like the firestorm

That obliterated lahaina.

Winds of up to 80 miles an hour.

Erin burnett: Tee dang was
on vacation with her family.

The flames so dangerously
close that they

Were forced to jump into the
ocean to save themselves.

Tee dang: It was just like
a hot oven fire flaming,

Blowing at us.

And then we started just
huddling in and trying

To keep our family tight so we
won't get burned from the fire

And then get washed
away from the water.

Reporter: The lahaina fire is
now the deadliest fire in the us

In more than a century.

Reporter: This will
rank as one of the worst

Disasters in american history.

It's as bad as paradise,
california, the deadliest

Fire from a few years back.

Larry laczko: That morning,
when I turned on pearson road,

I hit gridlock.

We were just
inching along when I

Came upon tamra and
her burning vw beetle

On the side of the road.

She just opened her door.

I heard tamra say, "I need
help putting out this fire."

I told her, "you need
to get into my truck."

But she seemed like she
wanted to stay with the car.

I know she had some
treasured belongings.

But she had to get
away from that.

Tamra fisher: I'm sorry, lucky.

I'm crying.

Karen davis: Nichole
got out of her car

Because her car was on fire.

She knocked on my window.

And she tried to open
the door, but couldn't.

So she ran off.

I was dazed from the smoke.

And I didn't know
where she went.

Everybody was in a panic,
just trying to survive.

Larry laczko: I did
witness people running

To a cal fire fire engine.

We couldn't believe
that they were outside.

The temperature inside
the engine at that point

Was probably around
150, 160 degrees.

At some point, the
outside of the engine

Probably took temperatures
of 600 degrees.

We started pulling people into
the engine, as many as we could.

But we just didn't
have any more room.

Larry laczko: We were
still trying to inch along.

Tamra fisher:
[indistinct speech]

[crying]

And suddenly,
out of the darkness

Came the headlights of a
bulldozer driven by a cal fire

Hero, pushing burning vehicles
off the side of the road

Beside us.

John jessen: Joe kennedy, he
was able to get those cars out

Of our way and be able
to open up that road

And give us a means of escape.

Alexander maranghides: The dozer
comes in, helps clear the area,

And enables the first
responders to escort

The convoy out of harm's way.

Karen davis: That
eventually saved our lives.

I did wonder what
happened to nichole.

I remember it was so hot, my
eyes and my throat were burning.

I ran up the road.

And I'm closing my eyes
because you can't see anything.

And I touched the back
of this fire engine.

The firefighters looked at me,
and they were like, oh my gosh.

Karen davis: And I later learned
nichole was one of the people

That ran into the fire engine.

Nichole jolly: The firefighters
absolutely saved our lives.

I waited all day for tamra.

I didn't hear anything.

I was so scared.

If I wouldn't have had
my dogs, I probably

Would have ran on foot.

Having larry open the truck door
and tell me to get in and then

Said, "bring the dogs," it was
like a knight in shining armor.

I got a text from
somebody I didn't know,

This gentleman, larry.

I found out that
he had saved tamra.

I feel that I was in the
wrong place at the right time.

Tamra fisher: Oh, my god.

Karen davis: And when we
finally did get through,

It was like an apocalypse.

Tamra fisher: Oh, my gosh.

It's like you're seeing
this destruction that you

Only see in, like, movies.

It's gone.

Larry laczko: It's gone.

Tamra fisher: It's gone.

Look, that house is gone.

Larry laczko: Yep.

Tamra fisher: And
that house is gone.

And to see that
devastation, it was surreal.

Yeah, my sister's
just right up here.

It's all gone.

Cindy christensen: Our
neighborhood, our house,

There was nothing left.

Nothing.

It was decimated.

We lost everything, except
for the clothes on our backs.

Nichole holly: The flames
engulfed the hospital,

And the roof collapsed.

Kory honea: It consumed
18,000 structures.

15,000 of those
structures were homes,

Places where people lived.

Karen davis: And I learned.

The next road up
from where we were

Trapped, that's where
five people died

Trying to run from the flames.

85 people lost their lives.

There's nowhere you
can go in butte county

Where you don't run
into somebody who

Was burned out of their
home or knew somebody

Who perished in the fire.

Todd abel: All over the
western united states,

These fires are more intense.

Wildland firefighters are a
big part of trying to mitigate

These natural disasters.

Hotshots are sort of
a breed of their own.

Kyle dickman: Hotshot
firefighters are crews

Of 20 people, men and women.

Desiree steed: They fight
fire from the frontlines.

Kyle dickman: Their job is
to go anywhere in the country

Where there's a bad fire.

And they'll spend as long
as two weeks or three

Weeks on a single fire.

I'm a former granite
mountain hotshot.

It's really not a job.

It's a lifestyle and career.

Kyle dickman: The
granite mountain

Hotshots were a hotshot crew.

Came from the city
of prescott, arizona.

Eric marsh was the
superintendent of the granite

Mountain hotshots.

A very meticulous
man, very intelligent.

And then there was jesse steed.

Desiree steed: Jesse
was the captain.

So he was second in command.

Prior to that, he was
also in the marine corps.

He was tough, 6'
4" and 220 pounds.

Always put his family
first, his kids first.

Brendan mcdonough:
Jesse was a mentor,

And he was a dad that I so
desperately wanted to be like.

Desiree steed: He
could handle all kinds

Of excruciating,
backbreaking labor and work

And actually enjoyed it.

[music playing]

Todd abel: In arizona, June
is usually kind of that month

Where everybody's hair on the
back of your neck stands up,

And we start getting
higher temperatures.

The relative humidity drops.

The fuel moistures drop.

Kyle dickman: It was
just perfectly primed

For extreme fire behavior.

Todd abel: We start
getting monsoon buildups,

Which sometimes throw
out the dry lightning,

Which starts fires.

The morning of June 30,
the hotshots on the crew

Were woken up by a phone call.

We got to go.

We got a fire in yarnell.

A lightning strike
from a couple of days

Ago started multiple fires.

It was about 500 acres.

The reason this
fire was concerning

Was that it was on a
ridgeline above a town.

Todd abel: There was
peeples valley to the north.

And then to the south-southeast
was the town of yarnell.

I remember getting out of the
buggy, and jesse was like, hey,

Grab-- grab extra water today.

It's going to be hot.

Todd abel: There's
different strategies

In wildland firefighting.

We use fixed-wing airplanes
and rotor-wing helicopters

To help reduce the
intensity of the fire.

Then we can get
our men and women

On there, our boots on the
ground I call it, to actually

Finish putting it out.

[chainsaw buzzing]

John jessen: Most
effective, especially when

Fires are larger and stuff,
is removing the fuels,

Creating control lines.

Kyle dickman: What
they're doing is

They're taking
away what the fire

Eats so the fire can't burn it.

Once you get to the
edge of the fire,

That's when the
work really starts.

Yeah!

Ow!

It's not just the
backbreaking work of digging.

Digging, digging,
digging for days on end.

Kyle dickman: They
use chainsaws a lot.

Brendan mcdonough:
You're removing

Everything for miles on end.

So if that tree is
60 feet tall, you're

Cutting that entire tree down.

It's not for the
faint of heart.

Sometimes we do use
fire to fight fires.

Kristen honig:
Using drip torches

To burn the fuel in a controlled
fashion so that by the time

The main flaming
front got there,

There would be no more
fuel for it to burn.

And that would stop
the fire's advance.

Todd abel: A lot of times,
we'll do a lot of those firing

Operations at night, where
we have better control

Over what that looks like.

Kyle dickman: So June
30, the yarnell hill fire

Is just ripping to the north.

And the priority is to stop
this fire on the northern edge.

And we start hiking in.

We were on the fire's edge.

The flaming front was
two to three miles long.

Probably had 20-,
30-foot flame lengths.

Kyle dickman: Jesse steed
asked brendan "donut"

Mcdonough to act as a
lookout down in the valley

Below the ridgeline.

Brendan mcdonough: And I
hiked into my lookout spot

Closer towards the
active edge of the fire,

And I'm at a lower elevation.

[music playing]

I got the word from our
fire behavior analyst that

Called and said, hey, we got
some thunderstorm developments

Developing north of us.

Kyle dickman:
Thunderstorms are extremely

Dangerous to
firefighters because they

Create erratic winds.

And erratic winds create
erratic fire behavior.

Todd abel: That's what
changes our environment.

And that's what
causes our injuries

And some of our fatalities.

Kyle dickman: It was a
warning to the hotshots

That by the
afternoon of June 30,

They could be
dealing with a fire

That was completely
different than it

Was behaving in the morning.

[music playing]

Kyle dickman: Two
things that firefighters

Pay the most attention
to, fuels and weather.

Paul hessburg: Weather is
one of the ficklest parts

Of a wildfire.

Mark finney: Aside from
drought or dry conditions,

The wind is probably responsible
for the greatest variation.

Another aspect of the wind
that makes wildfires dangerous

Is the shifting direction.

The wind can be coming out
of the west, for example,

And suddenly shift to
coming out of the north.

Todd abel: So
thunderstorm developments,

It'll push wind
multiple directions.

[lightning crackling]

Brad elder: We've
all been standing

Outside watching a
front hit and suddenly

Get hit by this wall of wind.

Kyle dickman: What happens
with these thunderstorms,

They start to rain.

Brad elder: And that
water is now falling,

And it's pulling air with it.

So we have this
rush of air coming

Down, slamming into
the ground and moving

Out in all directions.

Wherever that cell is, it
could push winds from the north

To the south, the
south to the north.

Brad elder: If you don't
know that's going to happen

Or know how it's
going to shift, that's

A real dangerous situation.

[music playing]

Kyle dickman: June 30,
the yarnell hill fire

Is just ripping to the north.

Kyle dickman: And the hotshots
were down on the southern edge,

What's called the heel
of the fire, which is

Essentially where it started.

They were just supposed
to start building

Line up around the fire to make
sure that it didn't escape.

And late in the afternoon--

Thunderstorm hit probably
around, I don't know, 4:15-ish.

Kyle dickman: All this cool
air comes rushing down,

And it races out
across this desert.

And it hits the fire.

And suddenly, the fire
pivots and turns direction.

It had been running north.

But it turned and ran south.

Brendan mcdonough: That's
pretty uncommon to see a fire

Completely shift 180 degrees.

Kyle dickman: And it began
running straight at brendan

"donut" mcdonough, the lookout.

Brendan mcdonough: Captain jesse
reached out because he could

See where I was from up top.

And so he called over the
radio and said, "hey, donut,

I think it's about time for
you to get out of there, man.

Move fast."

And I did that.

Got a ride down.

And so now this fire
has turned around.

My brother is on the
complete south end,

And I am on the north end,
opposite ends of this fire.

So the granite
mountain hotshots were

In what's called the blacks.

The best safety zone,
where fire's already burnt.

Kyle dickman: All they were
doing is watching the burn.

They can just look down
and see this ominous scene.

There's these black smoke.

It's dark.

And it's just all the
colors of hell sweeping down

This valley toward this town.

[music playing]

It became very clear
that the town of yarnell

Was imminently
threatened by this fire.

We started evacuating yarnell.

Man: We just pulled out.

Yarnell is blowing up.

Kyle dickman: The granite
mountain hotshots,

They weren't doing a whole lot.

They couldn't do a whole lot.

So the hotshots decided to
leave the safety of the black

And move back toward
the town of yarnell,

Where presumably they
could do something

To help the people
that were soon

To be threatened by the fire.

And they're essentially
climbing down these rocky cliffs

Into that canyon.

And when they do, they
know they're going

To lose sight of the fire.

They can't see the fire.

And suddenly, the fire turns
the corner of this ridge,

Pivoting and sweeping
in front of them,

Fanning out into
this flaming front.

At exactly that
moment, they realized

That they are out of options.

Todd abel: It was
moving so quick

That there was no way that a
human could outrun that fire.

Kyle dickman: Suddenly,
they come over the radio.

And what he's saying
is, we need help,

And we need help right now.

They're in trouble.

Brendan mcdonough:
And I remember

Them trying to call in water.

And that's when it
became very frantic.

Kyle dickman: At that
moment, nobody really knew

Where granite mountain was.

Todd abel: The
last conversation I

Had with them was granite
mountain was in the black

And that they were
in a good spot.

No one knew that they had moved
to the south end like that.

They are forced
to do the only thing

They can do in that instance,
to deploy their fire shelters.

Fire shelters are just
these small, thin blankets

That reflect heat.

That's all they are.

They are tents that you
pitch up and you climb into.

If you're deploying
your fire shelter,

It's a last-case scenario.

That fire crew's in trouble.

They're in trouble.

A lot of things going through
my brain at the same time

Of my heart being in my stomach.

Brendan mcdonough:
The helicopter's

Trying to find them.

And it's-- the smoke
is just so thick.

Bravo 33: Operations bravo 33.

[music playing]

Kyle dickman: You have
19 firefighters standing

In front of a flaming front.

Every firefighter on
that fire, their jaws

Dropped and I'm sure their
hearts broke because they now

Knew that their brothers,
their colleagues

Were in very real danger.

Todd abel: We launched some
helicopters to try to find them.

I absolutely had
all kinds of hope

That the crew was
going to be fine.

And I'm just
waiting on the radio

And waiting and waiting
and waiting and waiting.

And I hear there's 19 confirmed.

There were 19 dead
bodies in the canyon.

I can feel it in my heart
right now and in my stomach

Right now talking about it.

It was devastating.

Absolutely devastating.

I remember just sobbing.

Every negative emotion
that could be felt,

I just felt in that moment.

I remember walking
in, and they're just--

Everybody was crying.

And we were told that
they were all gone.

Kyle dickman: And this was
the worst fire tragedy that

Had happened in a generation.

Todd abel: They were
fathers, sons, brothers,

Husbands, the whole nine yards.

They were good people.

They enjoyed wildland
firefighting.

They had the passion for it.

The fact that I
can tell my children

That their father died a hero
has made a huge difference.

They can be proud of him
for everything that he did.

Kyle dickman: The nation was
captivated by it for months.

And they ended up
making a hollywood movie

No matter what you hear--

We've got several
aircraft coming to you.

--No matter what's going on--

We can't go back up there.

--Stay together--

Tell me when you
hear the aircraft, ok?

--And look out for each
other because you're a family.

No one could be prouder of his
boys than I am of you guys.

And the fires that we
fought when when we were young

Are nothing like
the fires of today.

They're really,
really dangerous.

And they're very,
very threatening.

Todd abel: Longer duration,
definitely larger fires.

How do you manage
something like that?

Paul hessburg: In the
western united states,

The fire season is
40 to 80 days longer.

In california, the fire season
is nearly year-round today.

Steve pyne: The climate is--

Is morphing in ways
that enhance fire.

It's acting as a
performance enhancer.

Smoke has been carrying the
fire problem to areas that

Otherwise are immune to it.

Reporter: Smoke from those fires
traveling more than 500 miles.

It's philadelphia, boston,
new york city, all the way

To the nation's capital.

Paul hessburg: The air quality
index just ballooned in many

Of these metropolitan areas.

More people are being challenged
by smoke-related injury

To human health.

Reporter: Wildfire
smoke contains

Particulate matter, or pm 2.5.

Among the tiniest and
most dangerous pollutants,

It's able to infiltrate the
lungs and enter the bloodstream

And has been linked
to conditions

Like asthma and heart disease.

The need to do
something is urgent.

We have a lot of
tools in the toolbox.

One of them is using
prescribed burning.

Prescribed burning
is intentional

Burning to invite the right kind
of wildfire back to the forest.

There's a tremendous
amount of science and skill

That go into this
prescribed burning.

99.8% of them stay
within the line.

It produces a
tenth of the smoke.

So the numbers are really good.

Steve pyne: Some of these areas,
we can go in, we can thin.

Not log, thin out.

It's a kind of woody weeding.

But it's the fire
that matters most.

If you do the thinning
but don't do the fire,

You're not really
solving the problem.

Burning where you've got
residents or small communities

Embedded in the landscape
around, very difficult.

But almost certainly,
they are going to burn.

And if we don't
do it in some way,

Then they're going
to burn probably

In the worst possible way.

Kyle dickman: It's like, you
can pick your poison, right?

Like, you're either going
to have prescribed fires,

Or you're going to have
more big wildfires.

[music playing]

Steve pyne: Well, all this
requires a political and social

Mechanism for us
to come together

And argue over
differences in values,

What we want public lands
to be, how we want to do it.

And we're facing the
point where we simply

Cannot pretend that
we can control all

These fires as we would wish.

[music playing]

Kyle dickman: We can only
do so much to insulate

Ourselves from those tragedies.

Like, the way that
the system works

And the environment is
changing, like, these are just--

They are realities.

Desiree steed: I want
jesse to be remembered

For his strength of character.

He had a lot of integrity.

He was a great dad,
a great husband.

Brendan mcdonough: Everyone's
journey after the tragedy

Has been different.

There's a lot to learn from it.

For me, it's been giving
back and, you know,

Paying it forward and
trying to help people

Understand their sacrifice.

Karen davis, the nurse
who survived the entrapment

In the mega fire in
paradise, california,

Says she lost everything
in the inferno.

Battling the trauma
from the flames,

She decided to move to las vegas
to be closer to her daughter

And rebuild her shattered life.

Once there, karen continued
her career in health care.

She also decided to become a
member of the henderson, nevada,

Community emergency response
team, aiming to help

Others in future emergencies.

A testament to her inner
strength and resiliency.

For more information on what
you can do in a wildfire and how

To combat the growing
climate crisis, please

Go to cnn.Com/violentearth.

I'm liev schreiber.

Thanks for watching.

Good night.