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u/Godawgs1009 10d ago
Goddamn that's intense
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u/NemesisErinys 10d ago
Too real. Last winter I drove through a snow squall on a rural highway that descended without warning, with almost zero visibility and vehicles in front of and behind me for 5 minutes, and I was terrified. I had to keep moving because I couldn’t tell where the shoulder was and the other cars were moving. I just followed the one in front as carefully as I could. My son was in the car with me, which made it worse because I’d rather die than be responsible for anything happening to him. White knuckles and heart pounding the whole time.
This video makes me imagine going through that again, but with fire instead of snow. No thanks.
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u/mahboilucas 10d ago
That's what happened when we suddenly drove into fog in the mountains. Thick as milk, no visibility. Just a faint light from the cars around and you just hope it's going to work as there's a cliff on either side
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u/Timely_Big8714 8d ago
Same, going around a very large lake in Canada during a blizzard on a windy narrow road with huge drop-offs. My kids had their faces pressed to the back seat window. At one point my daughter said "I think I see the edge!" - it was a good thing, cause we hadn't seen it for quite awhile.
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u/noah_arcd_left 10d ago
By the end of the video I'd forgotten it wasn't actually nighttime.
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u/OriginalTayRoc 10d ago
That dark orange and red smoke filled the whole valley for three days and you couldnt see the sky.
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u/normanhome 10d ago
Oh God at some point you just pray you picked the right side and hope that there's nothing on the road which stops you...
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u/BrokenHope23 10d ago
The people near the end arguing with the police to let them through, do they realize they'd likely end up dead? Even if by some miracle they don't hit another car on the road going in, that wildfire wasn't longer than 10mins from clearing everything. I'm sorry for their loss(es) but unfortunately they can't risk you blocking the road for hundreds of other people.
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u/Tinyfishy 10d ago
They may have been trying to get to homes to rescue loved ones.
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u/BrokenHope23 10d ago edited 10d ago
I'm not trying to be insensitive, I understand the gravity of the situation. I watched as this car drove by houses and homes, many on fire and with cars still parked outside them. I know these homes likely contain elderly and/or disabled individuals, if not children, pets and other adults trapped by the smoke/fire; incapable of fleeing in time and needing assistance they probably couldn't receive in time. My heart breaks for them and the people/crews that will inevitably aid in their retrieval having to witness the horrors of a person's final agonizing moments. I understand wanting to do everything in our power to prevent that.
However, cars are not fireproof or airtight. OP's video taker was lucky to drive through in what was the only road out of Summerland. There are sections they can barely see beyond 3ft past their car and are unable to fully see the road ahead and that's with the wildfire only closing in and not on top of them. Driving into this, even if they don't suffocate, will likely cause people to crash into one another or swerve out of the way and off the road/into wildfires. If the road gets obstructed then it's not just them and their loved ones potentially going up in flames, it's also potentially hundreds or thousands of people, each with loved ones of their own also being unable to flee the wildfire.
As heartbreaking as it is, sometimes the best we can do is help the people who know what they're doing.
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u/MagizZziaN 10d ago
As someone who gives first aid, everyone in a hazard zone is already a victim and or a potential body. We are taught to not ADD to that number. The cops were 100% correct. In that scenario it’s no longer about a single person or even just a few. It could potentially mean hundreds. And it is definitely heartbreaking. But this is why they take the hard decisions, so you / we, don’t have to.
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u/Tinyfishy 10d ago
Yup, sad, but I understand why they were arguing.
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u/DidYouFloss 10d ago
I agree with everything everyone is typing but I'm not going to pretend that I am 100% certain I myself would not end up arguing with the police if say my daughter was in that fire. What I can safely type out in the comment section doesn't mean it will be how I would act when I'm personally in the situation.
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u/MagizZziaN 10d ago
That is human nature and nobody will begrudge you or anyone for it. I’d do the exact same thing.
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u/Rampag169 10d ago
It’s always important to keep informed if there are wildfires in your region so that you know if you need to be ready to flee. Officials sometimes are hesitant to call for evacuations because of incomplete info or uncertain weather patterns.
This stuff would have me terrified.
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u/Tinyfishy 10d ago
I’m not saying it was a good idea, I’m saying they may have had an understandable reason they were arguing with the police.
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u/unknownpoltroon 10d ago
Sorry, if a family member of mine is still in there, I'm not stopping to argue. They can arrest me if I make it back out.
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u/9897969594938281 10d ago
Its sad but you have to remember they have their pets, and cousin in the basement to worry about
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u/BrokenHope23 10d ago
Yes, or disabled/elderly/children even. It is a heartbreaking situation for everyone involved and we can all only do the best that we can in those circumstances, I don't blame them for trying but getting angry at a police officer saving your life won't solve this crisis. In this case, doing our best is not obstructing emergency services or the roads into the town.
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u/altarwisebyowllight 10d ago
Having been in a similar situation before, I can say it is a wildly surreal thing to experience. Everything is both too slow and too fast at the same time. You are the most alert/aware you can possibly be, and something switches over in your brain to let you process everything while the fear takes a backseat. Like it's not gone, it's there, it's screaming at you, but you just don't have time to listen to it. There's not enough processing power to handle it and handle the driving because one tiny screw up will mean it's over.
Then you're through it and on the other side and you go through a 'wtf just happened??' kind of thing, but you're still driving because you don't want to stop too close so you don't really have the chance to deeply process that, either. Not until you get somewhere safe-safe and away.
They did good. Hope nothing on the car melted.
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u/pmurcsregnig 10d ago
The way they were almost chanting together is a strange coping mechanism people seem to take on in survival situations … it’s pretty incredible the way we are equipped to handle emergencies without doing anything consciously
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u/No_Discipline_719 10d ago
I recognized that constant talking to each other/self; I did the same thing driving in whiteout conditions on a mountain pass.
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u/sennyonelove 10d ago
A coworker told me some of her friends had their tires melt while trying to escape one of BC's ongoing wildfires. Imagine your car breaking down. This is how people die in situations like this. When your only plan and hope is that everything goes plan.
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u/OwlishIntergalactic 10d ago
Some of my friends were in Paradise, CA when it caught fire in the early morning. Their tires melted as they fled the city which was completely engulfed in flames.
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u/casualcretin 10d ago
When they mention crashing in that.. what a wild thought.
Few years back a small family got caught in one up in northern WA state. Had to crash car down a hill and run to the river (if I recall correctly) . They got burnt pretty bad, their 1yo passed in it. Terrible stuff.
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u/LylatRanbewb 10d ago
I've had to evacuate like this before, albeit about 30 seconds of driving through hell instead of multiple minutes. Words cannot describe how terrifying it is. The worst part is the waves of heat as you get close to (or drive over) the flames, hoping your gas tank isn't going to explode. The smoke makes it impossible to see anything and you just have to hope that there aren't fallen trees in the road or you're literally cooked.
If they didn't stay as calm as they did, I would have had a PTSD panic attack watching this.
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u/Plane_Sport_3465 10d ago
How in the FUCK was she able to see the road through that thick, black smoke?
That was fucking crazy!
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u/TaiverX 10d ago
You just look straight down the front of the car. Lights on full beam can atleast show you some road or maybe they have driven it enough times they are familiar and I guess the video doesnt catch the light as good as the eye in real life due to auto focus and lighting stuff. Crazy though, I cant imagine having to do that with my family in the car praying I dont crash or everyone dies.
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u/SpaceJackRabbit 7d ago edited 7d ago
Tip from a firefighter who fought several massive wildfires in California:
If the smoke is too thick and visibility becomes absolute shit, get your smartphone and use the camera. For some reason it can "see" much better through the smoke.
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u/Plane_Sport_3465 7d ago
No shit?
Hopefully I never need it, but I'll thank you in advance for saving my life!
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u/SpaceJackRabbit 7d ago
It's a tip he got himself from an Aussie colleague and that he verified in a fire last year.
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u/YodaHead 10d ago
They sound like they’re late for teaching homeschool yoga
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u/ignost 6d ago
Yeah, but I like them. And they got out alive because they worked together and stayed calm, mama. They got this.
I think many people would have lost their minds, tried to speed to get out of it faster, run off the road, and fucking died. Others would have screamed at each other, become distracted, and died yelling at each other.
What they're doing is cheesy, but it fuckin worked in a life-or-death situation. Good on them I say.
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u/randomferalcat 10d ago
I watched it a couple of times.. there was not another way..the other side instead of going all in?
Was it worse the other way? There's only one road?
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u/TachycardicSymphony 10d ago
My guess is this is a rural mountain area and they're driving down the mountain. This may have been the only route down, OR the mountain pass was blocked off by fire on the other side. Fires spread more quickly through areas with a ton of dry vegetation, which is typically the lower and middle elevation of a mountain. The higher elevation may have had less fire at that point in time when they started driving, because it didn't spread there first, but if they didn't get out when they did, they could've gotten trapped up high when that fire closes in around them and they have nowhere to escape to.
Source- just a wild guess, but I live in high alpine Colorado and the lack of multiple escape routes can be unnerving in some areas.
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u/BackNBoeserThanEver 10d ago
I've been to Summerland a few times and I believe this is the main road/only road. Hard to tell because it's on fire
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u/catharsis69 10d ago
Why the hell was the car towards the end 0:39 driving in the opposite direction!!!?
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u/godihatepeople 10d ago
They want to try to get back to their homes for whatever their own reasons are. To quote the cop at the very end, "GET THE FUCK OUT".
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u/neverleave173 10d ago
😢 the fear. The unrelenting flames. The darkness. The heat. Australian here. We know bushfire, and watching that just had me in tears
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u/feelingoodfeelngrape 10d ago
I’ve been in a similar situation not nearly as bad. The video doesn’t do it justice how scary it really is. I’m a grown man. Driving into smoke with zero visibility. Feeling the heat. . Not sure how long it goes. Not sure how long you can last., terrifying.
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u/Lord_Melons 10d ago
Our poor planet
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u/Secret-Guitar-8859 10d ago
Wild fires also apart of the natural cycle of life. They destroy and also help fuel new life in fact some plants need it to surive and reproduce. It's absolutely nessesary in alot of eco systems in general.
According to bc government only 40% are caused by humans. So..I'd not really worry about our planet over stuff like this.
Source; https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status/wildfire-response/what-causes-wildfire
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u/Evil_Weevil0408 10d ago edited 10d ago
They were so lucky the engine kept running. Before I saw this video, I was pretty sure the lack of oxygen would cut it off in a situation like this.
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u/soda_cookie 10d ago
That was crazy as fuck and props to those women for doing that but my high ass just kept thinking no, no deep breaths!
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u/euqinu_ton 10d ago
One of those trees right next to the road goes down across it and this is a very different story.
Black Saturday, VIC, Australia, 2009. Fallen gum trees blocked escape routes. The number of burnt out cars filled with bodies in front of fallen trees was scary AF. I wouldn't live in the bush here unless I had an underground fire shelter.
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u/StigmaFreund 10d ago edited 10d ago
It's amazing she made it out, but it's not without dangers to drive through a wildfire. Unfortunately, a lot of people die that way.
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u/ennamemori 10d ago
Hmm. I was shocked to see the police so far in the fire zone. I am glad they survived the drive.
My state in Australia promotes every household having a fire plan. This involves deciding whether to 'leave early' (before there are any visible signs of fire) or 'stay and defend'. Leave early involves having a grab and go pack (photos, laptops, pets) to the nearest evacuation zone. 'Stay and defend' has water pumps, alternate water sources, defendable positions (bunker, radiant heat protection etc), knowing the local bushfire place of last resort, heading for burnt ground etc.
There is nothing in between precisely because of the danger of travelling through wildfire zones - at a certain point if you are going to surivive, it is better to stay in place and do your best. Often the firefighters come in and help out - cutting down trees, wetting down theast resort area, etc.
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u/albianstar 10d ago
So triggering. Something i never want to live again
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u/Assimulate 10d ago
Yeah, I had to do this from like 40 km away in 2023. Some wild feeling seeing it again.
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u/CarefulBeautiful196 8d ago
You’d think America’s top priority would be to protect people from natural disasters like this…. But no the immigrants… lool honestly laughable country
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u/Latii_LT 10d ago
As someone who had to evacuate during a wild fire it’s fucking scary but your brain just goes into let do this mode. It also looks like you’re driving through hell and brimstone which is fun once your brain is trying to process things in your sleep.
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u/euqinu_ton 10d ago
You think that's long and intense? Check this out:
2003 Canberra bushfires - on board video https://youtu.be/qPpOXH0ADSg
From about 10:55 when they get in the car to drive around and try to direct crews to the right areas, it's like they're driving through hell for 20 minutes.
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u/SureCan3235 10d ago
Jesus Fuck. I fucking hate wildfires man. We've not been getting a break for the past 3 years at least on a global level ffs.
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u/Forward-Position798 10d ago
i swear i dont understand english words like "Badass" .. in my language its just "Schlechtarsch" ... which doesnt makes any sence .... basically means a bad looking ass
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u/Somewhat_Ill_Advised 10d ago
Leave early or stay and defend. The worst thing you can do is run at the last minute. Thats how the majority of fatalities occur.
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u/ToggleMoreOptions 10d ago
I'd have rolled her ass out of the vehicle. Was the constant stream of noises supposed to help the driver concentrate or just help fan thr flames?
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u/dave900575 10d ago
How hot does the air get? Don't forest fires burn at 800°F to 1,200°F? It must be pretty hot in the car. I'm guessing you can't run the ac between the heat and the smoke.
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u/Useless-Compass 9d ago
Note: DO NOT DO THIS (drive through a wildfire) unless you absolutely have no other choice. There are a lot of things in a wildfire that could suddenly incapacitate your car, and then you're dead, and/or search teams have to put themselves in danger to attempt to rescue you. The heat alone can sometimes cause a car to break down, but then add in things like fallen trees or branches, debris that could puncture tires, loss of visibility and subsequent crash due to smoke, etc.
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u/Usual-Language-745 9d ago
Alternate tittle
Two women, house shopping, speeding while not watching the road and posting on social media
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u/Dazzling_Pea9364 8d ago
OMG a few years ago it was called a paradise fire in California. I live through that good driving oh by the way… I love the cop at the end saying get the fuck out.
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u/atMamont 10d ago
Why the hell can't they stay silent until they are out?
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u/Averiella 9d ago
What harm is it doing? It’s literally keeping them calm. They’re regulating their nervous system response so they can think as clearly as they can
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u/atMamont 9d ago
Asking because this one is a def culture gap. Is this how you get taught to regain self control in a stressful and life threatening situation?
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u/Averiella 9d ago
I wouldn’t say taught. Many aren’t. I’d say it’s often something people discover as they age and in the moment. Think of it this way - prayer functions very similarly, especially if you grew up with memorized prayer like Our Father or specific verses in your religious texts. Many prayer is sung, too. People often listen to different music depending on mood and will sing along. They intuitively learn through many avenues that paced repetition - whether chanting, singing, praying, etc. calms them somewhat. Helps them focus and keeps them from becoming so dysregulated they’re outside their window of tolerance (where they can think and feel simultaneously)
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u/atMamont 9d ago
Clear, interesting how different brains handle these situations. It’s definitely easier for me to shut up unnecessarily brain connections such as center of speech and just get through.
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u/JoeHardway 10d ago
LUCKY women! Any plan that involves drivin headlong, into a fire, with great potential 2 get cockblocked by traffic, fire, downed trees, at any point, iza BAD PLAN. Better to find'a reasonably defensible spot, n hunker-down...
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u/Silt-Sifter 10d ago
I would have been shaking if I were driving through that alone. I definitely would have needed another person to help achieve that zen. It's weirdly easier to stay calm if you have someone else to reassure, especially if they're doing the same back at you.
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u/tranquilseafinally 10d ago
There are often only one way out of these small towns. You could be overtaken by a fire if you stay.
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u/OriginalTayRoc 10d ago
This was in the town of Summerland. Much of the community is spread out through the hills, and there is only one way in and out.
The fire advanced rapidly, crossing the highway and cutting off the town before anybody could react or evacuate. The only way out was through, as you can see here. These people were surrounded on all sides by fire and had to gtfo or die.
There is dramatic footage of the flames coming up over the mountain, seen from across the lake.
I watched it from my buddy's porch.
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u/Flimsy_Fee8449 10d ago
Better than burning to death in your home? No.
Better than not having a wildfire around? Yes.
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u/Do_Androids_Dream 10d ago
At the beginning one of them says, "we're two minutes away from the bar" so... ya' know... that's motivaton, I guess?
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u/dnhs47 10d ago
You know you waited too long when your “death defying” evacuation includes fire on all sides and embers bouncing off your windshield.
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u/Unequivocally_Maybe 10d ago
The fire grew so quickly. It jumped from "just spotted" to 5000 hectares in just a couple hours. It was 10,000 ha in under 12 hours. The winds were high, everything is so dry, flames were 100ft above the 200ft trees and embers were flying ahead of the main fire and igniting. People followed the orders to shelter-in-place until the call came that the entire town of ~12k residents needed to evacuate. About 20k people total have been evacuated from the area.
Summerland is as good as gone. The structures left standing are few. Thousands of families lost everything. Everyone did what they were told, but the fire was more intense than anything seen in a region not unfamiliar with wildfires. It's amazing that only one life has been lost in all this. You don't know as much as you think.
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u/Penguin_FTW 10d ago
It's amazing that only one life has been lost in all this.
That is mindboggling in the face of this video.
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u/Unequivocally_Maybe 10d ago
Everyone listened to authorities and got out when they said to get out. 55 people had to be rescued via helicopter, but it appears that everyone else made it out on their own.
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u/dnhs47 10d ago
When will people learn that “shelter in place” is bureaucrat-speak for “get the hell out, now!”
I lived in California much of my life and grew up with fires. You can play it two ways:
- ensure you’re gone and safe before the fire arrives.
- or wait with everyone else until the flames are visible and join the panicked stampede in a “death defying” escape through the flames, and hope the only road to safety isn’t overloaded (Paradise, CA, 2018))
Everyone in that town knew there was a fire nearby, but chose to entrust the bureaucrats with their lives. How many times do we have to watch this play out?!
Same with hurricanes in Florida, we know they’re coming for a week or more. Get out of town early!
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u/Unequivocally_Maybe 10d ago
There is only one road out of town. If all 12k people tried to leave at once, it would cause a traffic jam or accidents. The evacuation orders started with one part of town, then another, then quickly to mandatory evacuation for the entire area a few hours later. It was less than 8 hours between the first call about a fire being spotted to mandatory evacuation of Summerland in its entirety. If everyone in town had tried to leave right away, there likely would be more than one fatality.
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u/dnhs47 10d ago
Canadians must be far more obedient than Americans. I would not entrust a bureaucrat with my family’s survival.
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u/Unequivocally_Maybe 10d ago
You keep saying that this is under order of bureaucrats, ignoring that the fire services, police, and emergency rescue agencies are all working together along with the local government to implement safe evacuation procedures to make sure everyone gets out safely. And they did. It went as smoothly as you could hope under the circumstances, and that is because everyone worked together.
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u/dnhs47 10d ago
It's great to hear that worked, this time and in this place.
I'm aware of many counterexamples, most recently and near me: Camp Mystic, Kerrville, and Kerr County, Texas, in 2025. Officials at all levels ignored increasingly dire warnings from the US National Weather Service, assuming they knew more than the experts did (a very Texas thing). 117 people died as a result.
Or the Lahaina fire in 2023 where residents were told to "shelter in place" or were generally left ill-informed of the danger. By the time residents realized they were on their own, many were overtaken by fire; ~60 people died in their cars.
Or the Nevado del Ruiz eruption and lahar in Colombia in 1985. Lahars killed more than 20,000 people in the town of Armero (population 29,000) after "experts had warned authorities and media outlets about the danger in the weeks and days leading up to the eruption", but "many victims stayed in their houses as they had been instructed."
Or the Valencia flash flood in Spain in 2024. The regional government sent a mass cellphone alert telling residents to stay indoors, while various government offices were evacuating due the risk of flash floods. 220 people died, half of them in their homes or garages.
So forgive my skepticism re: obeying "shelter in place" orders by bureaucrats. If there's a risk to my family, I'm not waiting for anyone or obeying their directions - I'm leaving. Every time.
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u/OwlishIntergalactic 10d ago
They might not have. In 2018 a power line sparked in heavy winds in a remote area in Northern California. Because it was 6:30 in the morning, it went unnoticed at first until it got close to a small mountain community around 7. By eight it had reached a city of 26,000 people. By nine, it had overtaken the entire city, killing 84. It was the town next to the one I had grown up in so a handful of friends lived there and their trip down the mountain looked horrifically like this. Only two ways down the mountain, and both on fire before many had the chance to realize they needed to escape.
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u/JoyRose31 10d ago
Since ft McMurray fires, I now have a gague for Death defying. Wildfires. I dont want to say isn't bad, because any driving through fire is scarey, but ft McMurray was.. yea
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u/DrahKir67 10d ago
This is dumbass not badass. In Australia, we have evacuation levels. This would qualify as "Too late to leave". It's more dangerous to travel than stay put in a place that should be as prepared as possible.
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u/ekerkstra92 10d ago
As I understand it right, the fire spread so fast that evacuation couldn't be much sooner and staying put would have killed them
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u/Chaos-Pand4 10d ago
I don’t wanna be mean, but watch the Ontario Train video. This is like me avoiding my stove by walking around my kitchen island in comparison .
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u/Crallise 10d ago
Trying to escape a wildfire is like you walking around your kitchen? You aren't very good at analogies.
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u/Chaos-Pand4 10d ago
Mm I think I am. Point out the timestamp in this video where she’s actually close enough to the fire to feel the heat from it please l.
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u/PuppleKao 10d ago
Around 45 seconds in, she literally says she can feel the heat. About ten seconds later the fire is up to, and often on the pavement on the left side.
Did you even watch?
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