up next on a second look, meet the people who brave incredible danger to fight wildfires. some do it by flying over the flames, others by jumping right into them. what happens when you're there to cover the fire and the fire threatens to cover you. plus a look at how life can spring from the ashes of a massive fire and teach us that fire can be part of the ecosystem. all those stories stories straight ahead on a second look. hello everyone i'm frank somerville, and welcome to a

second look. in late june 19 firefighters died while battling a wildfire in arizona. it's a reminder of how dangerous and deadly fire season can be. while those firefighters were on the ground there were also those who risked their lives on the air trying to douse the flames from above. in 1996, bob mackenzie brought us their story. >> reporter: a furious fire kicks out of control in the mountains near big suhr. each forest fire is different but in some ways they're all the same. there are tires troops in the trenches, an overworked air force in the sky, top brass running the show. and front line soldiers fighting to gain a little ground. it's a war except the enemy isn't human. >> okay let me check. >> reporter: gus norman who can fix any aircraft has been the main engineer, the two trust

each other absolutely. that and their faith in the 50- year-old airport gives them the security they have on one of the most dangerous jobs on earth. fighting fires from airplanes. the statistics tell the story. there are about 30 california forestry airplanes. in october 1992, air tanker 61 a modified dc7 made its final drop on a forest fire in el dorado county. and two minutes later the plane crashed killing both men on board. in june that same year another cdf tanker went down near sacramento and the list goes on. >> we try not to think about the hazards of the operation. you try to put a positive attitude toward it. if a guy goes out there and keeps his head where it's supposed to be, you can keep the statistics down a little

bit. >> reporter: you've known some men who have died doing this? >> i've lost a lot of good friends in this business. >> reporter: you've gone into situations up there where you were nervous? >> i would say anxious not really nervous. i have complete faith in the captain. >> reporter: the men who fly for cdf are civilians under contract. they get paid to wait but get paid more when they fly. they want the money but they also want the action. it's the reason they're here. on a recent morning, ted and gus got their flying orders. >> yesterday morning we were on three. >> you worked out fine. now it's your turn to the back of the pack. >> he leaves and you guys can back up. >> reporter: cdf rules prohibits taking journalists on the aircraft. but we placed a camera on the

tail end of the wing for a bird eye view. >> gear up. >> reporter: a spotter plane carrying one of the fire managers goes ahead. the lead tanker leads the airplanes? >> copy 6-5. we're over here on the east side of the fire. i need you to come in at 3,500. we're using 3000 now. that will give you the full load at a coverage level six. >> 3000 level six the whole load. >> reporter: the fire in the big suhr mountains has proved a treacherous opponent. seeming to be under control for a while then breaking out again. >> we're turning and right behind you. >> a slight right turn to correct. correct it, just hold your heading there once you get it

down. i got it here. >> full flaps. >> there we go. >> reporter: dropping retardant means flying low and slow. often in the conditions where the terrain is steep and the visibility isn't good. experienced pilots always want to know how they're going to get out before they go into a drop but they can't always control the conditions. >> all of a sudden the lead plane disappears and you're all covered up in smoke and you don't know what direction he went. because the terrain won't give when you run into it, that's it. >> reporter: ted and gus come home safely as they always have. ready to load up and go again. >> i have a lot of faith in the good lord, it's paid off because he's saved my case a lot of times. >> reporter: for bret, it's more than a statistic. his father died doing the work

he is doing now. on the way down he continued to spray retardant. >> your father went down doing this and to a lot of people that would be a warning that this is not a safe thing to do for a living. yet you're still doing it, why is that? >> i don't really know why? i guess i love the work. i love this type of flying. i love working in the airplane. if i wouldn't be doing this i would be crop dusting. >> is your mom still around? >> oh yeah. >> what does she think about you doing this. >> if she has any negative feelings, she has not voiced them. she has always been very positive. >> reporter: this must have been very tough with what happened to your dad. >> she told me when my dad finally crashed, she waited for that phone call for 21 years and she says i don't have to wait anymore.  i suppose it's the same. >> reporter: some of the pilots

could fly commercial airliners, make a lot more money and be safer. but to them that's not real flying. this is flying. these old war horses are overbuild by today's standards. they can take a beating and still fly out of trouble. that doesn't mean a pilot can get overconfident. >> i always want to have a small spark of fear because that's what allows me to be careful enough to survive to come back tomorrow. >> reporter: we watched andy's planes making drops near vacaville. it is an exacting business. fly too high and the retardant is dissipated before it can do any good. fly too low and it hits the ground on a blob. too fast and the chemical drops

-- a pilot can say no to a fire that is too dangerous. and sometimes they do. but it's hard when there's troops on the ground fighting the fire. >> >> reporter: the main thing on your mind is helping the firefighters fighting the fire on the ground. what else is on your mind? >> going home at night. >> reporter: the man dropped to his knees looking up at the plane and cropped himself. he wasn't the first man to look at these air tankers as angels in the sky. i'm bob mackenzie and they're segment two. they're called smoke jumpers. and they do just that. jump from the plane to a cloud

of smoke. there are places where wildfires are actually a good thing.

tonight on a second look, the danger of fighting wildfires. when the fight begins with a plunge into the fire from the skies above, those who do it are a special group known as smoke jumpers. in 1997, rob roth brought us their story. >> reporter: in the shadow of mount shasta in the town of redding. >> down, nine. down 10. >> reporter: these men all in their 20s are training to join some of the most elite corp. in the country. the smoke jumpers. until this week none had ever jumpedded out of an airplane. all are trained to fight fires. that sound means it's time to

go. up. they are flying to a practice field outside redding where for the first time in their training they'll have to avoid dangerous obstacles, those trees that surround the area. from 1,500 feet it will seem like trying to land on a postage stamp. >> there are a lot of thing that is can go wrong. they can land on the trees and collapse a canopy and have a limb break out and they can fall to the ground and break their back. >> reporter: the trainees know this, it's one of the many risks they take to be a smoke jumper. there are only 400 smoke jumpers in the u.s., 40 here in redding. a decade ago in the shasta trinity. when you read the description you would wonder why anybody would want to do this work.

they jump into fires in the middle of nowhere carrying shovels and axes. when they finish the work, they hike so that someone can pick them up. they try to remember what they've been thought, take a deep breath and go. the first few jumps go smoothly. >> half way down i just knew i had to get back up there and do it all over again. nothing like it. when i popped up, i was facing the plane the way it let me off. it was just incredible to think it was at the same altitude as the airplane and he was flying away and i was just there. >> reporter: but things things went down for this man. he got caught up in the trees.

>> i still have to get my mind to allow me to be comfortable jumping out the door. >> reporter: do you think this is not for you or what are you thinking in those terms. >> i think it's still for me. i just need to get over this, this hurdle quickly. >> reporter: very quickly. the training is only five weeks long by mid-june these 12 trainees will need to have all the skills to be smoke jumpers. >> it's not boring. you get to work in the woods. you get to go to great places. you work with great people too. >> you go out and find wildfires. the jump put as little more thrill -- puts a little more thrill into it. for me, because i've been fighting fires for a long time. forest fires, that isn't just as exciting as jumping out of the plane.

>> reporter: but some of that exuberance begins to fade when you mention one word. that word is colorado. glenwood springs colorado, july 6, 1994. the fire was fierce and the winds erratic. firefighters tried to run but the fire was faster. 14 died including three smoke jumpers. jeremy harkins also fought that fire. >> i actually found one of the smoke jumpers, i think it was a smoke jumpers pack it got burned off. he got blown over the ridge stop because he had skin dropping down flying down the other side of the hill. >> reporter: parkins keeps the program of the memorial in his bible. he carries the tragedy with him and still he wants to be a smoke jumper. >> i get to see country that nobody gets to see. and i get to travel for free. >> reporter: and soon the bell

will ring. and chances are they will be busy. in redding, rob roth for segment two. the fire's 25 years ago in yellow stone national park and how they were actually good for the ecosystem there. a bit later, the danger of carrying wildfires as news. and the risk that you will become news yourself.

it was 25 years ago that a massive series of wildfires burned 1.2 million acres in and around yellow stone national park. park biologists and naturalists were quick to point out that fire is actually a part of the yellow stone ecosystem. while the forest appeared devastated, the flames were doing good for life in the park. august1988. >> reporter: fire is changing the face of yellow stone national park. areas that were once picture postcards of scenic beauty are

now charred moon scapes. for visitors it brings deep emotions. >> it's devastating. >> reporter: but for don a research biologist it's just part of nature. he says even in the midst of devastation there's already life springing from the ashes. >> the root growns, some rizones in the soil. and seeds that are still alive in that soil and they'll begin growth next spring. there'll be a will the of fertilizer from the ash. >> reporter: fires are an important part of the ecosystem at yellow stone. getting rid of old vegetation and making way for new. >> fire has largely taken the place of other decomposers in this ecosystem. unlike other parts of the country we do not have the

fungi and bacteria to decompose dead trees and wildlife in this area here. >> in the long run we're going to see greener areas, more nutrition habitats. more valuable habitat for for an array of different species. >> it's quite evident this thing has gone on for thousands of years. 14 year after the fires, ktvu's george watson returned to yellow stone to see how the park is recovering. nearly 800,000 acres of forest

burned. the largest wildfire fire in history. at its worse, some thought it was the end of yellow stone. >> here the whole park was burning up. nobody would ever come to visit it again and it was only going to be ashes. and it was burning so hot in such large areas it would take hundreds of years for it to grow back again. i had enough experience by that time to know that was not the case. >> reporter: after the first year, most of the grassland were back. it's the trees that are a different story. forest are not on a fast track to recovery. this little guy is a perfect example. he's about 4 feet tall and yet he's 14 years old. the forest is coming back, but it's according to nature's timetable. >> obviously it's going to take a long time for this forest to attain mature height it might be in yellow stone 50 to 60 years before it's tall. it isn't going to look the

same. >> reporter: sticks fill the ground. there are curious swaths of dead trees surrounded by green ones. what whim of nature kept them standing? everywhere you look you can see the new vitality of yellow stone. when we come back, kt have said u reporters and photographers find themselves right in the midst of the flames -- ktvu reporters and photographers find themselves right in the midst of flames. what helped them get out?

on a second look tonight we're looking at the dangers of wildfires. sometimes it's not just the fire crews who are at risk it can also be the people there covering the fires. john fowler and john mackenzie found themselves surrounded by flames. >> reporter: suddenly a blast of wind roars up the canyon to veteran firefighters a warning of impending peril. >> there's wind, let's go.

>> let's get out of here. we're out of here. jeff we're out of here. >> jeff. >> hey, i have to go. >> reporter: they have to turn their trucks on this dirt trail for the fire is jumping the lines up ahead. >> let's go. there's the fire right there. >> yeah, i know. >> camera man john mackenzie, a park ranger our guide and i are in the line. it's impossible to describe the heat, the smell, the sound of a wildfire.

our only out is through the fire. fortunately some what subsided, a casualty truck abandoned. jason cooley tribed what happened. >> the wildfire built up momentum and sparked up over the line before the fire got there. that's one of the risks when you build a backfire, set a backfire. and on the other hand, backfiring into those kind of conditions is about the only way to contain the fire. in 1998, it was ktvu reporter lloyd lacuesta who was covering a wildfire with photographer dave serrano when suddenly the fire swept right

over them. on carol road, firefighters used air drops to keep the flames away from a cattle ranch. the rancher got on his horse and herded his cattle off the burning hillside. >> about 500 acres got burned there. and i mean that's what i feed my cattle on for the rest of this summer. >> reporter: no homes were lost in this fire but the flames continued to burn on to areas for what the altima pass is known for. windmill farms. >> and when we saw it comes this way i evacuated the men out off of the hills. >> it doesn't help when you have a fire. >> it doesn't help but as you can see we're still producing electricity even as we speak. >> reporter: suddenly the winds again gusting up to 45 miles per hour in the ridge line. and we suddenly found ourselves in front of the approaching fire line. the firefighters backed down the hill away from fast approaching flames, camera man dave serrano and i tried to do the same but suddenly our way

out was blocked. >> just back it up. back it up. reverse. reverse. just let it burn out. >> dave and i were caught in what is known as a blow out. the fire was sweeping over us and it was getting difficult to breathe. >> so the object is i don't know, stay in the car? >> yeah, just stay in the car. >> it seemed like an eternity sitting in that truck. but while it was hot and smoky we didn't get hurt. the firefighters returned to the hill that five minutes earlier was untouched was not blackened. and we had been baptized with fire stories to share with the professionals. >> yeah that's what we heard on the radio. it said it blew over. >> so the best thing to do is stay in the truck when it blows over like that? >> oh, yeah. if you have one. >> and try not to breathe too

much of the smoke. >> or cover your face as much as you can. >> that's it for this week's second look. i'm frank somerville. we'll see you again next week. ♪ [ male announcer ] when the a.c. goes out in a heat wave, it's nuccio heating and air conditioning that comes to the rescue. at&t helped nuccio put a complete mobile solution to work. mobile routing to send the closest technician and mobile payments to invoice on the spot. where do you want to take your business? call us. we can show you how at&t solutions can help you do what you do... even better. ♪

newscaster: we have a tornado warning that is still very much in effect for all of the springfield metro area. laurie: you just feel the suction try to pull the car off the pavement. melody: it was growling. you could hear it growling. travis: i figured we were just going to be sucked up and never would be found again. mike: we got down behind this big oak tree. the trees started snapping all around us. laurie: i don't know if they heard it or seen it, but just the look in their eyes was like, 'oh, my god!' jim: this is 'storm stories.'