{"id":19881,"date":"2018-12-05T09:28:16","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T16:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/?p=19881"},"modified":"2018-12-06T00:57:33","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T07:57:33","slug":"california-carr-fire-tornado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/california-carr-fire-tornado\/","title":{"rendered":"California Carr Fire Tornado"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-19881-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTornado.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTornado.mp4\">http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTornado.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<div class=\"byline\">By\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/lizzie-johnson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"author noopener\">Lizzie Johnson<\/a><\/div>\n<p><time class=\"dateline intro-description\" datetime=\"2018-12-05T04:00:00-08:00\">Dec. 5, 2018 4:00 a.m<\/time><\/p>\n<h1>Death blew east on a savage wind, driving flames over foothills and across a river, spitting glowing embers and scrubbing the earth bare.<\/h1>\n<p>It was coming for Don Andrews.<\/p>\n<p>His bulldozer\u2019s windows shattered, flinging glass into his face. The blue-green shards were everywhere: on the floor, inside his helmet, in his skin and eyes. He was alone and blinded. The firestorm shook the ground and roared as loud as a passing train.<\/p>\n<p><i>I\u2019m not going to survive this<\/i>, he thought.<\/p>\n<p>In three decades of firefighting, Andrews, 60, had witnessed plenty of close calls. He\u2019d seen blistering heat melt the stickers on his dozer in Mariposa County. More than once, when flames burned over his rig, he\u2019d summoned helicopters or planes to cover him with water or pink retardant.<\/p>\n<div id=\"about\" class=\"image vertical\">\n<div class=\"about-title\">About this project<\/div>\n<div class=\"about-text\">After reporting on the Carr Fire in July, reporter Lizzie Johnson, working with Chronicle photographers, graphic artists and digital producers, sought to reconstruct in detail the deadly fire tornado that swept into Redding three days after the blaze ignited. The account in this story is based on exclusive interviews with survivors and family members of those killed, as well as more than a dozen other interviews with witnesses and officials, Cal Fire investigative reports, audio of 911 calls and video footage provided to The Chronicle.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>But on this day, July 26, he wasn\u2019t supposed to be this close to the edge. He\u2019d come from his home in Orland in Glenn County for a fairly routine contract assignment at the Carr Fire in Shasta County, hired by the state\u2019s Cal Fire agency to carve a thick ring of dirt around a subdivision of homes. The containment lines were three dozer blades wide and designed to halt the advance of the wildfire, which was still miles away.<\/p>\n<p>What Andrews didn\u2019t know was that the Carr Fire \u2014 to that point a dangerous but rather ordinary California inferno \u2014\u00a0was about to spawn something monstrous: a fire tornado the likes of which the state had never seen.<\/p>\n<p>The vortex of air ripped around a column of rising heat, flames licking its walls. A freak of meteorology, it would annihilate everything in its path, uprooting trees and crumpling electrical towers. For the men and women who spend their summers on the fire lines, the tornado was an ominous glimpse of the extremes our warming climate\u00a0will bring.<\/p>\n<p>As Andrews\u2019 focus turned from plowing defensible space to warding off potentially fatal burns, several others in the twister\u2019s path \u2014 firefighters, bulldozer drivers and residents not yet evacuated from their homes \u2014 faced similar peril.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19879\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap-1024x584.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap-1024x584.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap-300x171.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap-768x438.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Death was stalking each of them. Over 150 hellish minutes, they would claw for survival. Some would forge narrow escapes. Some would become heroes. Several wouldn\u2019t live through the night.<\/p>\n<p>Andrews had little choice but to hunker down. He gripped the dozer\u2019s protective foil curtains closed with his left hand to keep the wind from batting them open. With his right hand, he pulled his shirt over his nose and mouth. The heat seared his throat.<\/p>\n<p>This was how most firefighters died, he knew. Not from flames, but their own bodies roasting. Temperatures within the tornado soared to 2,700 degrees, flames blasting into the sky. A nearby Cal Fire truck exploded.<\/p>\n<p>Andrews dialed 911. His singed hands trembled.<\/p>\n<p>A dispatcher answered, on the verge of tears. Dozens of others had phoned in already describing\u00a0the unfolding hell. Now, here was a call from ground zero.<\/p>\n<div class=\"audio-wrapper\">\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-19881-2\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFire911.mp4?_=2\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFire911.mp4\">http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFire911.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>I don\u2019t know how long I can last,\u201d Andrews told her. \u201cI need to get out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you can, get out safely, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t. It\u2019s all on fire around me. Don\u2019t risk anybody\u2019s life for mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0SEEING THE MONSTER<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap2.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19888\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap2-1024x583.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap2-1024x583.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap2-300x171.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap2-768x438.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>E<\/strong>ven before the tornado formed, California\u2019s fire season had been unrelenting. The ruinous Wine Country wildfires the previous year began to seem less a singular catastrophe than a foreshadowing.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, fires had\u00a0set new state records for size and destruction. Those records would fall again\u00a0this year as flames threatened Yosemite National Park, torched mansions in Malibu and, in the worst fire in California history, wiped out the Sierra foothills town of Paradise. Ninety-three civilians and six firefighters would die.<\/p>\n<p>The tornado signified\u00a0with horrifying clarity the reality California faces. As wildfire season intensifies, conflagrations will increasingly defy efforts to control them, becoming more powerful and erratic as they race into communities, striking in ways that once seemed unfathomable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs much as I hate to say it, this is what the future of wildfires looks like,\u201d said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. \u201cExcept the acceleration hasn&#8217;t ended yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But for three days in July, it was the job of Incident Cmdr. Tom Lubas, 48, to try to outmaneuver the Carr Fire as it inched closer to his hometown of Redding, defying the multiagency effort to contain it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19892\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FireCmdrTomLubas.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19892\" class=\"wp-image-19892 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FireCmdrTomLubas-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FireCmdrTomLubas-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FireCmdrTomLubas-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FireCmdrTomLubas-768x1151.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FireCmdrTomLubas.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19892\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire Incident Cmdr. Tom Lubas watched with disbelief as the fire tornado, fed by cool coastal air, grew to massive size July 26, a phenomenon he\u2019d never encountered before.Photo:\u00a0Santiago Mejia \/ The Chronicle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The wildfire\u00a0had begun in typical fashion \u2014\u00a0human error colliding with a dry landscape primed to burn. It hadn\u2019t rained in the area since May and winter precipitation had been 50 percent below normal. More than 17 other wildfires were already burning\u00a0across the state, so resources to fight it\u00a0were stretched.<\/p>\n<p>On July 23, an older couple, driving home from vacation\u00a0to tend to a family emergency,\u00a0cut through Redding. A tire on their trailer went flat, leaving the wheel to drag on pavement near Whiskeytown Lake. Sparks flew into parched grass.<\/p>\n<p>Lubas, a 23-year veteran of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, knew most wildfires did their worst damage in the first hours after ignition, before firefighters dug in. Now, days later,\u00a0the crews in Shasta County were well past that threshold. Lubas and his colleagues had set up a command center. Called in firefighters from all over. Carved containment lines.<\/p>\n<p>But on Thursday, July 26, the fire exploded from 4,500 acres to more than 30,000, its footprint rippling outward in a rainbow of colors on Lubas\u2019 maps. Just after noon, he had handed off his incident commander role, becoming an operations section chief, and left base camp at the Shasta County fairgrounds in Redding.<\/p>\n<p>It\u00a0was supposed to be his day off, and he planned to shower and rest. From\u00a0his truck window, though, he could see coastal winds stoking the blaze and smoke thickening.<\/p>\n<p>He watched as a 30,000-foot-tall convection column \u2014\u00a0a plume filled with ash, debris and hydrocarbons \u2014 ballooned in the sky, condensing into fluffy pyrocumulus clouds. The column acted like the lid on a pot of boiling water. When you took it off, oxygen fed the fire, sucking up the hot air. That\u2019s what the column had done overnight: collapse, then blow flames in every direction, ripping through the county\u2019s rural oak woodland and knotted manzanita.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FireTornado-GIG.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-19889\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/FireTornado-GIG.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As Lubas drove, his truck registered the temperature outside: 113 degrees. On the coast, 150 miles west near Eureka, it was 59 degrees. Lubas was worried \u2014 and right to be. As the cool coastal air blew over Bully Choop Mountain and into the Sacramento Valley, the 54-degree difference caused warm air to shoot up in a vortex. The convection column would rotate faster and faster, contorting into a cyclone.<\/p>\n<p>Sometime after 5:30 p.m., as Lubas finished grocery shopping, the sky grew dark. The fire\u2019s behavior alarmed him, so he went back to work, driving to the hills northwest of Redding to assist evacuating residents. But more than an hour later, at the intersection of Keswick Dam and Quartz Hill roads near the Lake Keswick Estates neighborhood, he stopped. He was blocked.<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of him, the tornado twisted. It was sinister and snake-like, a swirl of orange that seemed to fill the entire sky. Flames soared 400 feet in the air. It would grow to 1,000 feet wide, the length of three football fields, and produce temperatures double those of a typical wildfire. Its\u00a0howling obliterated every other sound.<\/p>\n<p>Lubas jumped out of his truck to record a video on his cell phone\u00a0and was immediately blown onto his back. Goosebumps prickled his arms.<\/p>\n<p><i>Holy shit<\/i>, he thought, scrambling back into his truck.\u00a0<i>Nobody is going to believe this<\/i>.<\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2018Get out of there!\u2019<\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap3.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19899\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap3-1024x585.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap3-1024x585.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap3-300x171.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap3-768x439.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Across the Sacramento River, 5\u00a0miles west of Lubas, Don Ray Smith\u2019s radio crackled with the voice of his crew leader.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet out of there!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith, 81, had been bulldozing contingency lines into the razorback ridges near the Buckeye Water Treatment Plant. It was treacherous work; dozers can tip and roll on such steep ground. The lines had been abandoned earlier in the day for this reason, but no one had told Smith.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019d driven nearly four hours from his home in Pollock Pines in El Dorado County to help battle the blaze. Some thought he was too old for the work, but he wasn\u2019t the kind who took to retirement. As a private contractor, he\u2019d operated heavy machinery for Cal Fire for more than a decade and had no plans of stopping.<\/p>\n<p>As day turned to dusk, the tornado began to form. It wouldn\u2019t touch down for another hour, but it was rapidly gaining strength. Its black winds whipped faster, shaking Smith\u2019s\u00a0bulldozer. It looked like a dust storm, but instead of soil and sand, smoke and embers raced through the air, pelting Smith.<\/p>\n<p>Flames cut off the access road to the treatment plant, trapping him. Two firefighters chased him down the line, trying to reach him from behind,\u00a0but it was too late. The blaze threatened to burn over him.<\/p>\n<p>There was little else to do but try to\u00a0create a small safety zone, a ring of bare dirt around his vehicle that he hoped would protect him. Through the smoke, four helicopters dropped water near his last known location. The pilots had to guess \u2014\u00a0they couldn\u2019t see the ground. It was so hot that one helicopter\u2019s temperature warning light flicked on, and, at 6:08 p.m., it was forced to land.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m cut off by the fire,\u201d Smith said over the radio, in his final dispatch. \u201cI\u2019m pushing down.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"end-section\">\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-time-wrapper\">\n<h1 class=\"section-time\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>7 p.m.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"section-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Escape to Keswick Dam<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Escape2KeswickDamap.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19902\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Escape2KeswickDamap-1024x586.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Escape2KeswickDamap-1024x586.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Escape2KeswickDamap-300x172.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Escape2KeswickDamap-768x440.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/h1>\n<p>About 5\u00a0miles to the southwest, Patrick Hoffman, 29, steered a fire\u00a0engine along rural roads to reunite with the rest of the strike team deployed to Redding by the Marin County Fire Department. It was his ninth\u00a0fire season with the agency, and he was finally learning to supervise an engine.<\/p>\n<p>Capt. Mark Burbank, 43, and two new seasonal firefighters were in the back as Hoffman drove south through the tiny community of Keswick. By then, flames shot across Iron Mountain Road, one of the two main routes through the Gold Rush town.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19903\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MarinFD_PatHoffman.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19903\" class=\"wp-image-19903 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MarinFD_PatHoffman-1024x665.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"416\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MarinFD_PatHoffman-1024x665.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MarinFD_PatHoffman-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MarinFD_PatHoffman-768x499.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/MarinFD_PatHoffman.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19903\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marin County Fire Department firefighter Patrick Hoffman (left) and Mark Burbank, a fire captain, took refuge with their team at Keswick Dam and watched as the Carr Fire jumped the Sacramento River. Photo: Guy Wathen \/ The Chronicle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Hoffman had turned left on Keswick Dam Road, toward the Sacramento River, when everything went dark. The crew plunged into a void of black smoke. They were in the belly of what would become the tornado \u2014 but it hadn\u2019t started swirling yet. Embers glowed like stars. The lines on the road below disappeared. Then the gas pedal slackened, the engine robbed of the oxygen that fed the fire\u2019s combustion.<\/p>\n<p>Flames flared ahead, and Hoffman reversed. Flames flared behind, and he accelerated. Back and forth he went, like a player in a high-stakes game of \u201cFrogger.\u201d\u00a0It was more than 200 degrees\u00a0inside the engine\u2019s cab, so hot that the mapping system powered down. Painted letters, reading \u201cPoint Reyes,\u201d melted off the engine\u2019s side. So did their taillights.\u00a0If the rig stalled \u2026 Hoffman didn\u2019t want to think about it.<\/p>\n<p>In the back seat, Burbank worked the radios. \u201cWe are in a bad spot,\u201d he messaged his battalion chief. \u201cWe are in a really bad spot.\u201d<br \/>\n.<br \/>\nFirefighters carry personal shelters as a tool of last resort. The Marin\u00a0crew members knew they needed to deploy theirs now. Ahead, Burbank spotted a gate leading to a small field. He figured they could break out\u00a0the thin foil blankets \u2014 which reflect heat while preserving a pocket of breathable air \u2014 and crawl under them, waiting out the storm.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/301942878?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/301942878\">Carr Fire 7-26-2018<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/sfchronicle\">San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\">Vimeo<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m going to check the gate,\u201d he said, opening the engine door.<\/p>\n<p>Burbank walked 10\u00a0feet, maybe less. Radiant heat blasted his face. His protective yellow suit started smoking. His eyes watered.<\/p>\n<p><i>Even if I make it to this gate<\/i>, he thought,\u00a0<i>I won\u2019t make it back alive<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>So he retreated to the engine. Hoffman then nosed the vehicle flush against a steep bank, a buffer from wind, flames and flying debris that threatened to shatter\u00a0the windshield.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone grab your fire shelters and get ready to hold them against the windows!\u201d Burbank shouted.<\/p>\n<p>He thought of his wife, Yvonne, and their three young children. Firefighters had been dying over the summer; now\u00a0he was going to be the next. But in that moment, the smoke shifted. Black faded to a caramel brown. A mirage? No, a break.<\/p>\n<p>Hoffman gunned the vehicle down Keswick Dam Road, pausing for two of the men to snap a bolt on a gate, before parking in a gravel lot near the dam\u2019s\u00a0power plant. The crew of four abandoned the engine and hiked to the edge of the river. It was 113 degrees, but the air outside the suffocating engine\u00a0felt as crisp as a winter breeze. Burbank re-established radio contact, trying to hide his shaking hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHead\u2019s up, Engine 1564 is taking refuge at Keswick Dam.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the Marin firefighters looked north, the flames swirled and converged as the blaze hopped the river. Ahead was Redding, population 90,000. The fire tornado was touching down.<\/p>\n<div class=\"end-section\">\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-time-wrapper\">\n<h1 class=\"section-time\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>7:15 p.m.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"section-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u2018I\u2019ll lead you out\u2019<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap4.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19904\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap4-1024x588.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"368\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap4-1024x588.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap4-300x172.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap4-768x441.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Issue evacuation orders for the neighborhood of Sunset Terrace,\u201d Shawn Raley barked over the radio to his branch commander, \u201call the way down to Eureka Way to Shasta High School.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sky was red and the wind screamed, shaking the leaves off trees. New fires lit in shrubs and on roofs.<\/p>\n<p><i>People are going to get trapped<\/i>, thought the Cal Fire captain, a 24-year veteran of wild-land blazes.\u00a0<strong><i>They are going to die<\/i>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19905\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireShawnRaley.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19905\" class=\"wp-image-19905 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireShawnRaley-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireShawnRaley-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireShawnRaley-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireShawnRaley-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireShawnRaley.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19905\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shawn Raley, a Cal Fire captain, drove his truck into the hills east of Redding and into the path of the fire tornado to help evacuate residents trying to flee. Photo: Guy Wathen \/ The Chronicle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>He drove to the Land Park and Stanford Hills subdivisions tucked into\u00a0the wooded hills east of Redding, figuring residents would need help escaping. His headlights barely pierced the smoke, but he could see\u00a0black clouds whipping\u00a0across the road. Three bulldozers inched\u00a0past him on two-lane Buenaventura Boulevard \u2014 one driven by Don Andrews, the others by contractors Terry Cummings and Jimmie Jones. They were under some electrical lines, which were swaying in the wind, and he shouted at them to move north, farther away.<\/p>\n<p>Raley\u2019s childhood was forged in fire. His parents worked as U.S.\u00a0Forest Service firefighters and raised him in Mount Shasta in Siskiyou County. It seemed they were always rushing off in the middle of the night to battle a conflagration. Raley had worked on\u00a0elite hotshot crews into the worst parts of blazes with little support, and he\u2019d leaped\u00a0from airplanes and\u00a0rappelled from\u00a0helicopters as a Forest Service smokejumper.<\/p>\n<p>Stuff that scared everyone else gave Raley an adrenaline rush. Except snakes. They terrified him. He had seen nearly everything, including swirling eddies of air called fire whirls. But this \u2014 he hadn\u2019t seen anything like this.<\/p>\n<p>In the driveway of a sprawling house, Raley spotted an idling Tesla. Dr. Nanda Kumar, 62, had raced 5\u00a0miles home from Vibra Hospital of Northern California. His wife Yasoda, 58, and daughter Sushma, 29, were alone. They hadn\u2019t\u00a0received an evacuation alert, and when the power cut, their garage door wouldn\u2019t open.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-19881-3\" width=\"640\" height=\"960\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireShawnRaley.mp4?_=3\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireShawnRaley.mp4\">http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireShawnRaley.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>Video:\u00a0As Shawn Raley helped evacuate residents from nearby subdivisions, footage from a camera on his dashboard captured his encounter with the Kumar family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGo back!\u201d Raley shouted at Kumar, sounding his siren. \u201cYou\u2019re not \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cMy wife and daughter are there, can they come in?\u201d Kumar said, pointing to his vehicle.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cCome in my truck?\u201d Raley asked. \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The women, still in their pajamas,\u00a0climbed into the back seat, coughing. Nearby, flames that climbed 100 feet devoured their neighbors\u2019 homes. Soon,\u00a0their home would fall as well. Trees bent nearly in half.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll lead you out,\u201d Raley yelled to Kumar. \u201cTake your car.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Debris pelted the truck, cracking Raley\u2019s windshield and shattering the others, as the wind blew the vehicle off the road. The captain threw himself across the passenger seat, shielding his face, as the fire passed over them. Yasoda and Sushma screamed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you OK?\u201d Raley shouted, though he knew the answer.<\/p>\n<p>He couldn\u2019t hear his own voice over the tornado. He was embarrassed. What a weird emotion to feel at this moment, he thought. He\u2019d told\u00a0this trapped family\u00a0he would get them out safely. Now they were covered in glass and bleeding. Behind them, the trunk of Kumar\u2019s Tesla was aflame.<\/p>\n<p>Raley never thought he would die on a fire line. But maybe this was it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19907\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireKumars.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19907\" class=\"wp-image-19907 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireKumars-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireKumars-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireKumars-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireKumars-768x1151.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireKumars.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19907\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sushma Thiruvoipati (left), her mother, Yasoda Thiruvoipati, and father, Nanda Kumar, were forced to try to outrace the fire tornado after their home lost power and the garage door would not open. The whirling flames passed over them as they fled. Photo: Santiago Mejia \/ The Chronicle<\/p><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"section-time\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>7:30 p.m.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"section-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The black rectangle<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireBlackRectangle.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19908\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireBlackRectangle-1024x560.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireBlackRectangle-1024x560.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireBlackRectangle-300x164.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireBlackRectangle-768x420.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The radio call from Redding fire Inspector Jeremy \u201cJ.J.\u201d Stoke couldn\u2019t have been more urgent:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMayday!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19909\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireJeremyStoke.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19909\" class=\"wp-image-19909 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireJeremyStoke-744x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"881\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireJeremyStoke-744x1024.jpg 744w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireJeremyStoke-218x300.jpg 218w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireJeremyStoke-768x1057.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireJeremyStoke.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19909\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Redding fire Inspector Jeremy \u201cJ.J.\u201d Stoke, who had left a vacation early to help fight the Carr Fire, was caught in the path of the fire tornado. Photo: Casey Lansdon \/ Associated Press<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The 37-year-old had cut short a family vacation in Oregon and Idaho with his wife and two children to come home and battle the Carr Fire. That night, he\u2019d joined others in evacuating residents from the Land Park neighborhood. As the tornado descended, he was about 250 feet northwest of Raley, driving his truck south on Buenaventura Boulevard. The ferocity of the thing defied his long experience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI need a water drop,\u201d Stoke called out at 7:39 p.m. \u201cI\u2019m getting burned over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An engine captain responded immediately, asking for his\u00a0location. There was no response.<\/p>\n<p>The tornado picked up Stoke\u2019s 5,000-pound Ford F-150 truck as if it was a toy car, flipping it repeatedly and dragging it down Buenaventura Boulevard. The truck scraped the pavement, leaving a trail of red paint, before coming to rest in the woods.<\/p>\n<p>The twister destroyed everything around him, buckling an electrical tower into a jumble of steel, lofting a shipping container and blasting the bark off oak trees. Even after Stoke\u2019s truck was towed, a black rectangle remained scorched on the ground. There, his friends and family would build a memorial covered in firefighting badges and Giants baseball caps.<\/p>\n<p>For months, Stoke\u2019s colleagues would search the area for his lost helmet. They never found it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19910\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireScorchedEarth.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19910\" class=\"wp-image-19910 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireScorchedEarth-1024x685.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireScorchedEarth-1024x685.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireScorchedEarth-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireScorchedEarth-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireScorchedEarth.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19910\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scorched earth and melted metal mark the spot where Jeremy Stoke&#8217;s truck, tossed by the fire tornado, came to rest near Buenaventura Boulevard in Redding. Photo: Guy Wathen \/ The Chronicle<\/p><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"section-time\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>7:30 p.m.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"section-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Melody and the kids<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap5.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19911\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap5-1024x583.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap5-1024x583.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap5-300x171.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap5-768x438.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Just south, on Quartz Hill Road, 70-year-old Melody Bledsoe soaked\u00a0blankets in her kitchen sink and draped them over her great-grandchildren, Emily and James \u201cJunior\u201d Roberts, who were 4 and 5 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Melody\u2019s husband, Ed, was a handyman who\u2019d gone just\u00a0down the road to pick up a paycheck. The family hadn\u2019t been ordered to evacuate, and Ed didn\u2019t know the tornado was headed their way \u2014 until he got a desperate, frightened call from Junior while he was stuck in gridlocked traffic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAre you coming?\u201d the boy asked, his small voice frantic.\u00a0The storm was sucking air through the house, rattling the windows, and ripping through the trees outside.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19912\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireEdBledsoe.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19912\" class=\"wp-image-19912 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireEdBledsoe-1024x696.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"435\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireEdBledsoe-1024x696.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireEdBledsoe-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireEdBledsoe-768x522.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireEdBledsoe.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19912\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ed Bledsoe was on the phone to his family on Quartz Hill Road in northwest Redding when he lost contact with his wife, Melody, and great-grandchildren, James Roberts Jr., 5, and Emily Roberts, 4. Photo: Guy Wathen \/ The Chronicle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t worry, Grandpa is coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou gotta come in the front door, the back door is on fire,\u201d Junior said. \u201cI don\u2019t want you to get hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s where I\u2019m coming. Be ready. You guys be ready. I\u2019ll be there just as quick as I can. I\u2019m waiting for the fire to pass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTell Grandpa I love him,\u201d Melody Bledsoe said in the background, her voice barely audible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverybody says they love you,\u201d Junior said. \u201cCome get us, Grandpa. There\u2019s starting to be a lot of fire here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then the call went silent.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"section-time\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>7:45 p.m.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"section-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>A text and a prayer<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap6.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19913\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap6-1024x586.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap6-1024x586.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap6-300x172.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap6-768x439.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Three elements make fire: heat, oxygen and fuel.<\/p>\n<p>So as the blaze spotted around bulldozer driver Terry Cummings in an open field near Buenaventura Boulevard, the 44-year-old attacked the wildfire\u2019s base. He would choke off its fuel. Stop the flames from spreading. Two other dozer operators on contract with Cal Fire \u2014 Don Andrews and Jimmie Jones \u2014 worked alongside\u00a0him. Raley was their boss.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19914\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTerryCummings.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19914\" class=\"wp-image-19914 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTerryCummings-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTerryCummings-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTerryCummings-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTerryCummings-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTerryCummings.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19914\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Terry Cummings was fighting the Carr Fire in Redding when he became trapped in his bulldozer by the tornado. He suffered burns all over his body, including his back, face, right leg and hands. Photo: Guy Wathen \/ The Chronicle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Fire should have scared Cummings. The contractor grew up in the mountains in a logging and milling family. As a child, he would sit on his father\u2019s lap as he drove their bulldozer through the woods. But in 2005, his mother, sister and brother died in a house fire ignited by a candle, and soon after, he shut down the family business. He\u2019d chased wildfires ever since.<\/p>\n<p>Cummings had the rough look of a firefighter, but his hair was shiny and fell to his mid-back \u2014 his one vanity.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-19881-4\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTerryCummings.mp4?_=4\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTerryCummings.mp4\">http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireTerryCummings.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>Video:\u00a0From his bulldozer, Terry Cummings recorded a video on his cell phone of the oncoming flames.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was in some bad firestorms,\u201d he texted his girlfriend, Shalli, at 8:04 p.m. \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The field around him was a sea of rippling orange, the embers and flames seemingly alive. He couldn\u2019t breathe from the smoke. He flagged down Andrews and Jones and led them back to Buenaventura Boulevard. He figured they could wait between the steep banks on either side of the road. The air would be clear, and the dozer engines could cool down.<\/p>\n<p>But as they drove north, the tornado descended again, its edges glowing red. It whipped rocks into Cummings\u2019 windshield like bullets, shattering the glass. It was as dark as midnight. Then it picked up the front of his 25-ton bulldozer, pivoting it clockwise and dropping it on the hood of a nearby truck, which was crushed and aflame.<\/p>\n<p><i>The driver must be dead<\/i>, Cummings thought.<\/p>\n<p>He reached for the fire shelter tucked behind his seat, but nabbed his gear bag by accident. He held it in front of his face to protect his airways. White blisters bubbled on his fingertips. His skin felt like it was melting. He screamed in pain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo Lord,\u201d he screamed. \u201cNot like this!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, it seemed, he was going to die the way his family had. The tornado sucked Cummings halfway out the shattered window, his body drawn by a gravity he didn\u2019t understand. He gripped the window frame. Jagged glass pierced his left leg as he pulled himself back inside.<\/p>\n<p>Reaching up, he tried to unfold the fire curtains over his dozer\u2019s open windows. But the third-degree burns on his fingers prevented him from undoing the clasps. He grabbed a knife and cut them. Finally reaching his fire shelter, he pulled its cord as best he could.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBe calm. Don\u2019t make mistakes,\u201d he repeated to himself. \u201cBe calm. Don\u2019t make mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For a moment, the wind stopped.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"section-time\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>8 p.m.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"section-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Into the blade<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap7.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19916\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap7-1024x584.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap7-1024x584.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap7-300x171.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap7-768x438.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nMinutes later, the tornado raced down Buenaventura Boulevard again.<\/p>\n<p>Even now, much about the storm remains unknown. Several fire tornadoes could have occurred. Or maybe it was one, weakening and then again gathering strength. Those who witnessed it say it appeared to wane several times, only to be recharged.<\/p>\n<p>In a final Cal Fire report, there is no consensus. What scientists know is this: Wind follows the terrain,\u00a0and,\u00a0as the twister headed uphill, it slowed. Then it probably fell backward, attacking the same area again.<\/p>\n<p>At that moment, the particulars didn\u2019t matter much to Steve Bustillos, 55, as he cringed in the driver\u2019s seat of his truck \u2014 the one that sat mangled and flaming under Terry Cummings\u2019 dozer. The air quivered and warped from the heat, like the horizon of an asphalt highway on a hot day.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19917\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireSteveBustillos.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19917\" class=\"wp-image-19917 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireSteveBustillos-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireSteveBustillos-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireSteveBustillos-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireSteveBustillos-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireSteveBustillos.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19917\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former San Jose police Officer Steve Bustillos, of Redding, saw his truck crushed by a tornado-tossed bulldozer as he attempted to evacuate the Stanford Hills subdivision during the Carr Fire. Photo: Guy Wathen \/ The Chronicle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A retired San Jose police officer, Bustillos lived in the Stanford Hills subdivision. He hadn\u2019t evacuated in time because he didn\u2019t know he needed to. The fire had moved that quickly. As he drove out of the gated neighborhood just after 8 p.m., he called his wife, who was receiving treatment in the Bay Area for endometrial and lung cancer, both stage 4.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt might be over,\u201d he told her. \u201cThe fire is here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now he was in grave trouble. The fire spreading in his\u00a0pickup fed off spilled diesel, torching paperwork, jewelry and guns in the back seat. Bustillos\u2019 hair looked like someone had taken a blowtorch to it. He knew he couldn\u2019t stay put.<\/p>\n<p>So he climbed outside, grabbing a suitcase filled with clothing, and made a desperate move, crouching in the blade of Cummings\u2019 bulldozer, which provided some protection from the wind. He held the luggage in front of him. Fifteen seconds passed, or possibly 15 minutes. He wasn\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n<p>Embers floated through the air as the wind shifted. Fire danced through the grass and in the trees. Then the temperature dropped, perhaps by as much as 50 degrees. Bustillos saw Cummings sprinting down the street under his semi-deployed fire shelter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGet me out of here!\u201d Cummings yelled at a man driving a Cal Fire truck, his voice cracking. \u201cI am burned really bad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bustillos hopped into a second truck. Then he saw the driver\u2019s face. He knew that expression from decades in law enforcement \u2014\u00a0the look when someone wearing a uniform, which meant they were supposed to keep people safe, knew that might not be possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw it in them,\u201d he said. \u201cThese guys were scared.\u201d<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"section-time\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>8:15 p.m.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h1 class=\"section-title\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u2018Where is Don?\u2019<a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap8.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-large wp-image-19918\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap8-1024x584.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap8-1024x584.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap8-300x171.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireMap8-768x438.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The tornado had jumped a river, blasted across fields, leveled neighborhoods and rendered the landscape smooth and alien. Now it was dissipating, finally. But as it withdrew back into the sky, few knew that.<\/p>\n<p>Firefighters and police officers and residents, gripped by fear, were\u00a0rushing to escape what they supposed\u00a0was an inevitable death. In the chaos, Don Andrews was left behind. Alive \u2014 at least for now, he thought.<\/p>\n<p>Again, the dozer operator reached for his cell phone. He called his son.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTell my wife I love her,\u201d he said. \u201cPlease. Take care of her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Down the hill, now near the intersection of Nash and Keswick Dam roads, Cmdr.\u00a0Lubas watched people stream out of hillside neighborhoods. Their stares were vacant, like those of soldiers returning from battle. They\u2019d survived the worst of a fire that killed eight people \u2014 including Don Ray Smith, Jeremy Stoke, Melody Bledsoe and her great-grandchildren \u2014\u00a0and ruined more than 1,000 homes over 38 days.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey couldn\u2019t comprehend what was going on,\u201d Lubas said later. \u201cI have been doing this for 23 fire seasons, and I have never seen anything remotely close to that tornado.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lubas helped spray down the back of Dr. Kumar\u2019s Tesla, which was still flaming. He directed their savior, Capt. Raley, to set up a triage area for burn victims, and ordered five ambulances. Then he left to continue evacuating more residents along Lake Boulevard.\u00a0More people flooded the intersection.<\/p>\n<p>Andrews still wasn\u2019t among them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere is Don?\u201d his colleague, Mike Merdock, kept asking. \u201cWhy did no one get Don?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, Merdock was able to drive up Buenaventura Boulevard, past California Highway Patrol officers who had blocked off the street, and find the bulldozer. He figured Andrews was dead, that he couldn\u2019t possibly have survived. But as he grabbed the back of the contractor\u2019s shirt to haul him out of his vehicle, Andrews twitched.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19919\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireAndrews.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19919\" class=\"wp-image-19919 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireAndrews-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireAndrews-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireAndrews-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireAndrews-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/CarrFireAndrews.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-19919\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Don Andrews, a contract bulldozer operator with Cal Fire, hugs his wife Debra at the spot near Buenaventura Boulevard where his bulldozer was overwhelmed by a fire tornado as he fought the Carr Fire in Redding. Photo: Guy Wathen \/ The Chronicle<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Together, they drove out of the decimated neighborhood, Andrews thinking one thought:\u00a0<i>How did anyone live through this?<\/i><\/p>\n<p>All that was left, for as far as he could see, was ash.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/news\/media\/Aftermath-1396776.php?jwsource=cl\">https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/news\/media\/Aftermath-1396776.php?jwsource=cl<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"__next\">\n<div id=\"project-wrapper\">\n<div id=\"credits\">\n<h2>Credits<\/h2>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Reporter<\/p>\n<p>Lizzie Johnson\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:ljohnson@sfchronicle.com\">ljohnson@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lizziejohnsonnn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@lizziejohnsonnn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Editor<\/p>\n<p>Demian Bulwa\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:dbulwa@sfchronicle.com\">dbulwa@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/demianbulwa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@demianbulwa<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Copy Editor<\/p>\n<p>Geoff Link\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:glink@sfchronicle.com\">glink@sfchronicle.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Photographers \/\/ Videographers<\/p>\n<p>Guy Wathen\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:GWathen@sfchronicle.com\">GWathen@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/guywathen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@guywathen<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Santiago Mejia\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:smejia@sfchronicle.com\">smejia@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SantiagoMejia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@SantiagoMejia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Photo Editing<\/p>\n<p>Nicole Fruge\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:NFruge@sfchronicle.com\">NFruge@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/photofruge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@photofruge<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Video and Audio Editing<\/p>\n<p>Guy Wathen\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:GWathen@sfchronicle.com\">GWathen@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/guywathen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@guywathen<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Graphic Artist<\/p>\n<p>John Blanchard\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:jblanchard@sfchronicle.com\">jblanchard@sfchronicle.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Art Director<\/p>\n<p>Danielle Mollette-Parks\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:DMollette-Parks@sfchronicle.com\">DMollette-Parks@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/daniellemparks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@daniellemparks<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Newsroom Developers<\/p>\n<p>Lucio Villa\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:LVilla@sfchronicle.com\">LVilla@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/luciovilla\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@luciovilla<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Evan Wagstaff\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:Evan.Wagstaff@sfchronicle.com\">Evan.Wagstaff@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/evanwagstaff\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@evanwagstaff<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Managing Editor, Enterprise<\/p>\n<p>Michael Gray\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:mgray@sfchronicle.com\">mgray@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GrayMikeG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@GrayMikeG<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Executive Producer<\/p>\n<p>Tim O&#8217;Rourke\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:TORourke@sfchronicle.com\">TORourke@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TimothyORourke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@TimothyORourke<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Editor in Chief<\/p>\n<p>Audrey Cooper\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:ACooper@sfchronicle.com\">ACooper@sfchronicle.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AudreyCooperSF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@AudreyCooperSF<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"end-section\">\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"credit-header\">Special thanks to:<\/p>\n<p>Don Andrews, Terry Cummings; Shawn Raley (Cal Fire);<br \/>\nCraig Martin, John Richey, Chris Varnum (Redding Fire Dept.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"pagecontent page-content faux-21\">\n<div class=\"faux-21\">\n<div class=\"span-21b clearfix\">\n<div class=\"hst-galleryitem clearfix\">\n<div id=\"player-FJmJBu4M-container\" class=\"hearst-jwplayer-container floatable\">\n<div class=\"hearst-jwplayer-wedge\">\n<div class=\"hearst-jwplayer-position\">\n<div id=\"player-FJmJBu4M\" class=\"jwplayer jw-reset jw-state-playing jw-stretch-uniform jw-flag-aspect-mode jw-breakpoint-5 jw-flag-user-inactive\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"application\" aria-label=\"Video Player\">\n<div class=\"jw-wrapper jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-controls jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-nextup-container jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-nextup jw-background-color jw-reset\"><button class=\"jw-icon jw-nextup-close jw-reset\" type=\"button\" aria-label=\"Close\">\u00a0<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-controlbar jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-slider-time jw-background-color jw-reset jw-slider-horizontal jw-reset\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"slider\" aria-label=\"Seek Slider\" aria-valuemin=\"0\" aria-valuemax=\"198.659\">\n<div class=\"jw-slider-container jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-rail jw-reset\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-buffer jw-reset\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-progress jw-reset\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-knob jw-reset\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-icon jw-icon-tooltip jw-tooltip-time jw-button-color jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-overlay jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-time-tip jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-time-thumb jw-reset\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-reset jw-button-container\">\n<div class=\"jw-icon jw-icon-inline jw-button-color jw-reset jw-icon-playback\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Pause\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-icon jw-icon-inline jw-button-color jw-reset jw-icon-rewind\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Rewind 10 Seconds\">\n<div class=\"jw-reset jw-tooltip jw-tooltip-rewind\">\n<div class=\"jw-text\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-icon jw-icon-tooltip jw-icon-volume jw-button-color jw-reset jw-off\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"slider\" aria-label=\"Volume\" aria-valuemin=\"0\" aria-valuemax=\"100\" aria-valuenow=\"0\" aria-valuetext=\"Volume 0%\">\n<div class=\"jw-overlay jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-slider-volume jw-volume-tip jw-reset jw-slider-vertical\" aria-hidden=\"true\" aria-label=\"Volume Slider\">\n<div class=\"jw-slider-container jw-reset\">\n<div class=\"jw-rail jw-reset\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-buffer jw-reset\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-progress jw-reset\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-knob jw-reset\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-icon jw-icon-inline jw-text jw-reset jw-text-elapsed\" role=\"timer\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-icon jw-icon-inline jw-text jw-reset jw-text-duration\" role=\"timer\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-reset jw-spacer\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-icon jw-icon-inline jw-button-color jw-reset jw-settings-sharing\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Share\">\n<div class=\"jw-reset jw-tooltip jw-tooltip-share\" aria-expanded=\"false\">\n<div class=\"jw-text\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-icon jw-icon-inline jw-button-color jw-reset jw-icon-settings jw-settings-submenu-button\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Settings\" aria-haspopup=\"true\">\n<div class=\"jw-reset jw-tooltip jw-tooltip-settings\" aria-expanded=\"false\">\n<div class=\"jw-text\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jw-icon jw-icon-inline jw-button-color jw-reset jw-icon-fullscreen\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Fullscreen\">\n<div class=\"jw-reset jw-tooltip jw-tooltip-fullscreen\">\n<div class=\"jw-text\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"premiumsfgate-media-1396776-caption\" class=\"caption\">A landscape left barren in the aftermath of the Carr Fire tornado serves as a backdrop as survivors share their stories. Media: Guy Wathen, Santiago Mejia<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Lizzie Johnson Dec. 5, 2018 4:00 a.m Death blew east on a savage wind, driving flames over foothills and across a river, spitting glowing embers and scrubbing the earth bare. It was coming for Don Andrews. His bulldozer\u2019s windows shattered, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/california-carr-fire-tornado\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19881"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19921,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19881\/revisions\/19921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amicuscuria.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}