[rey]

Just wos.

People cannot fathom how hot and dangerous this is. I know people who thought they could stay and fight this but soon realized their predicament and fled. Safe to say they are forever changed.

[logi_cal869]

They never shoulda been there...

[freebilly]

The article says 3 fatalities. There were four bodies recovered....

[Timber Rattler]

In vivid detail, the report — called a green sheet — describes how one firefighter had to remove his gloves to tear the melted plastic covering away from the aluminum shell of his shelter. Another firefighter couldn’t get his shelter out of its case because the plastic cover had melted and fused to a white plastic protective sleeve.

Plastic?

[mac_truck]

“We need a new adjective that’s worse than critical,” Upton said, adding that some Cal Fire veterans are describing the brush as “standing gasoline.”

Amazing...

[Chainmail]

Reading between the lines of this report, this fire crew waited a bit too long to get to bare ground and get in their "Baked Potatoes" - the aluminum tents used as fire shelters. Most fire crews with experience identify emergency areas near them to go to shelter to be ready if the fire "crowns" (spreads fast across the tops of the threes) and traps them. With ground covered by debris and pine needles and though it wasn't mentioned, a high Haynes index (high temperature, low humidity) they were standing in a bonfire.

Also obviously they only had a helicopter water/retardant drops available - no fixed wing. When you have a really big, fast-moving fire that's "pluming" (forming a huge column of hot air and smoke) - there's no substitute for the big boys dropping water.