tonight on a second look, the ferocious power of california's wildfires. and a close up look at the grueling, daring and dangerous work by the men and women who battle those fires. it's all straight ahead on a second look. hello everyone i'm frank somerville and welcome to a second look. severe drought and a wildfire season that roared to life in spring has california firefighters bracing for what could be one of the worse

wildfire seasons on record. in mid-may as temperatures soared into the 90s in san diego county a series of wildfires broke out as the hot dry santa ana winds pushed the fire forward. in all there were 19 fires. one man was dead, thousands of homes lay in ruins and more than 31 homes were destroyed. while flames can quickly consume large areas, as bob mackenzie first reported back in 1994, firefighters and homeowners have to protect the land foot by foot and house by house. >> this morning fire fighting crews massed up at the southeast end of the great cotton wood fire moving in

toward the monster rather than waiting for it to come to them. it was expected to crest the mountains and head down the dry chaparral with a small city on its way. some of these firefighters were going on fumes after days of work but they were ready to make a stand this time to save individual farmhouses. >> the biggest concern we have is winds are picking up. we're getting spotty fire approximately .25-mile in front of the line. >> reporter: as the afternoon came up, it took a treacherous move to the north. and suddenly, the housing development called sierra brooks narrowly spared yesterday was knee deep in trouble again. it was still a mile away from sierra brooks the other end of that fire was once again advancing on the town and sending out advanced patrols. certain spot fires born in on the wind. once again this became a house to house fire. >> john i need you to go in the house. i want you to close all the

back windows. i want you to pull all the lightweight drapes. >> some homeowners took one look at what was coming over the hill, grabbed their dogs and cats and headed for near by loyalton. others stood by their houses with hoses ready to fight as best they could. bulldozers cut across homeowners yards. many times the bulldozers got there just before the flames and sometimes just after. >> let's go, let's go. >> reporter: the department of forestry firefighters treed to knock out the fire. the fire was faster than they, ultimately. because the fire was expected to break out at the other end instead of this one the force that remained near loyalton was much lower than yesterday. so the firefighters here had

their hands full. >> we've been here about three days now. worked a double the first night. >> if you had known what this was going to be like would you have done it any way. >> certainly. >> back up, back up. >> sometimes the strategy was to stop the fire before it reached the house. >> reporter: sometimes to let it run through except the house. at least the fuel that was allowed to burn will not burn again. it's close to the house now as you can see but people are already tied up trying to do a backfire to stop this one. there just isn't enough people to be in all these places all

at once. once again the fire crews won the individual battle saving one home at a time. but would they win the war? after all these were just spot fires breaking out in advance of the main fire just across the hill. and then at noon there it was. cresting up on the mountain and looking down. this was not a spot fire anymore, this was big daddy himself. still to come on a second look, jumping out of a plane behind the fire lines. what it takes to become a smoke jumper. a wall of flames as crews try to push back an advancing fire storm. the worse fire in california's history. still ahead on a second look.

tonight on a second look the danger of fighting wildfires. just imagine for a moment flying right into the center of a wildfire and then jumping out of an airplane and parachuting in behind the fire lines. that's the work of a special group of firefighters they call themselves smoke jumpers and in 1987, rob roth brought us their story. >> reporter: in the shadow of mount shasta in the town of redding. these men all in their 20s are training to join perhaps the most elite core of firefighters in the country. they are training to become smoke jumpers. all are experienced to fight wildfires but until this week none had ever jumped out of an airplane. that sound means it's time to go, up.

they are flying to a practice field outside of redding where for the first time in their training they'll have too 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 things that can go wrong. they can land on the tree and collapse a canopy and have a limb break out and they can fall to the ground and break a back. >> reporter: the trainees know this it's just one of the many risks they're willing to take to be a smoke jumper. there's only about 400 smoke jumpers in the country. four here in redding. smoke jumpers are a special group in the fire fighting effort. you wonder why anyone would want to do this work when you read the description. they jump out of air plains into wildfires in middle of no place. fight the fire with shovels and

when they're done hike out of the fire area in remote parts of the could be -- -- fire area sometimes in remote parts of the country. they try to remember what they've been thought -- >> but this jumper read the wind wrong and ended up -- [audio difficulties ]

>> forest fires that isn't near as nervewracking as jumping out of airplanes. >> reporter: smoke jumpers say that exuberance begins to change when you mention that

word and that word is colorado. lynnwood springs colorado, 1994. the fire was fierce and the winds erratic. the firefighters tried to run but the fire was faster. 14 died including three smoke jumpers. jeremy harkins also fought that fire. >> i found a smoke jumpers pack. he got blown over the hill. >> reporter: he carries the tragedy inside of him and still he wants to be a smoke jumper. >> i get to see country that nobody else gets to see. and i get to travel for free. >> reporter: soon the bell will ring for real and all these men will go to a real fire. and with a hot summer predicted chances are they will be busy.

in redding, rob roth for segment 2. >> we asked the forest servicers how much rookie smoke jumpers made today. we learned that starting pay is $15.25. but they also get overtime and their pay bumps up after a year. when we come back on a second look. a ktvu crew caught behind a fire. and a bit later, under fire, a lesson in fire fighting as crews take shelter in their emergency tent as flames approach. still ahead on a second look.

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a broader mix of energies, to move, to keep warm, to make clay piggies. that's why we are supplying natural gas, to generate cleaner electricity, that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. let's broaden the world's energy mix, let's go. a tornado in the plains. the death and destruction left behind and the man convicted of starting that fire. it was a hot dry october day in 2003 when a hunter lost in san diego county lit a signal fire in the hopes of being found.

that small fire grew into what is said to be the largest wildfire in california's recorded history. pushed by santa ana winds through dry brush that had not burned in years the cedar fire moved faster than firefighters had ever seen. within hours the fire had burned down dozens of homes and some people who lived in remote areas of the county actually found themselves trapped. the fire burned for nine days charring more than 273,000 acres, destroying 2,200 homes and claiming the lives of 15 people including a firefighter from the bay area. 38-year-old steven rucker of novato was killed when the fire went over his crew. recker left behind a wife and two young children. lloyd lacuesta and photographer quisan filed this report in 2003. >> let's go.

let's get out of here. >> reporter: highway 79 was the major battleground today. at one point the flames jumped this highway at interstate 8 sending people running including us when we found a wall of flame between us and our car. >> you want to make a run for it? >> let's go. >> let's go. >> earlier authorities ordered residents out in the towns of julian, pine valley, toscano and gutay. >> you need to head west then they're going to send you east. >> i live here. i'm getting out of here right now. he's coming around the corner right now. i'm going to sit right here and wait see which way he wants to go. >> how are you feeling? are you okay? >> i'm scared, scared, scared.

>> reporter: at the parking lot of the local market a flat clear area some evacuees evacuees decided to wait it out. >> at this point we don't know. we're just waiting. >> reporter: then it was up to firefighters watching the wall of flames a advance. >> how long do you say until you say, we have to get out of here. >> as long as we're set and they hold the line we're going to stay. if it gets too hot we're running to houses and try to stop it. we're going to stay here and try to save those houses. >> reducing everything in front of it to charred ambers. >> it can be erratic situations, it can be difficult at times. we're trying to protect these structures behind it. we have a lot of people -- people behind us doing a lot of

work. >> we chased this to grassy field and we're back here today. this is our home turf. >> you're not finished yet? >> no it's not over until the fat lady sings. the hunter who set the signal fire was sentenced to six months in a half way house along with 960 hours of community service. the judge noted that sergio martinez was doing what he was thought in his hunter safety course. martinez faced up to five years in prison. he begged for leniency though saying he feared he would die in the forest if he wasn't found. three years later, a massive fire storm burned its way through river side county killing five firefighters. this time investigators say the fire was not the result of an ill conceived call for help but rather the deliberate work of an arsonist. the esp era nza fire started on october 26 west of palm springs within days it had burned 61

square miles. destroyed 24 houses and 20 outbuildings. five days after the fire started, investigators arrested a mechanic. raymond lee oiler on suspicion of starting the fire. investigators say inside his car they found a wig, latex gloves, cigarettes, and a partially burned slingshot that he had used to launch incendiary devices into the dry brush. oilers boyfriend told police he bragged about setting fires and had complained that they weren't big enough. mcdonald filed this report. >> reporter: four firefighters died after the treacherous burning fire overran their crew. any judge hearing this case will be asked to take into account the way many firefighters died. firefighters caught in an advancing fire can die directly from the heat and flames.

prosecutors are charging two special circumstances which raise the case to death penalty levels. one alleges multiple murders and the other alleges murders committed during a felony in this case arson. >> a river side jury found oiler guilty of first degree murder for the deaths of five fire fighters. in june of 2009 he was sentenced to death. oiler remains on death row. when we come back on a second look. >> we're outside we can hear it. >> beneath a fire shelter as flames burn all around. >> and the father of a fallen firefighters conducts his own tests on fire shelter material and calls on the forest service to do more to protect crews. that's still ahead on a second look. it makes me happy to go on the computer.

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well come back -- welcome back to a second look where we're taking a look at

wildfires and the dangers that firefighters took while fighting those fires. bay area firefighters took part in a special training that kept them safe on the job. >> reporter: smoke can be a frightening sight this time of year. >> we have to go back. we have to go back. >> reporter: this time there were more than enough firefighters to handle the flames immediately. the california department of forest treu deliberately set these fires as part of a two day training exercise called wild land 97. 43 urban emergency agencies are at camp parks to learn how to battle grassland fires. officials say brush fires like these kill more people every year than the much bigger and more spectacular forest fires. >> right now i feel like i can

go and walk up to it but if the wind changes it could come right toward me. >> since 1979 it's been mandated that people ware this shake and bake. >> i've never been in a bake. i've never been in a shake and bake myself. >> reporter: padilla was one of the firefighters that literally went under fire. firefighters who didn't have the shelter died after the fire turned on them. we gave padilla a camera to record the view. >> we're in the shake and bake. temperature is a little warmer.

yeah, it's a little warmer now. it's hot. >> reporter: padilla emerged inkated. staying a warm 160 degrees inside the tent as 1,000-degree flames passed over him. but still. >> the shelter is a very, very last resort. it will protect you, it can deflect up to 95% of the heat at the shelter. but it's nothing that i would risk my life with. >> the best lesson firefighters learned today is to run to the right or the left of an advancing fire or right down through it, but never run up of an advancing fire. it will reach up and kill you. >> 19 members of an elite fire fighting group died while battling a wildfire in arizona despite seeking shelter in their tents. it was on june 30th of 2013 that the wind picked up fueling the wildfires and pushed the flames over the hot shot crew from the city of prescott.

when the men were caught by the fast moving fires they deployed their safety shelters but the heat of the wildfire proved to be too much. the families of those firefighters have filed lawsuit. >> when you have that much fuel and those warm conditions it can become extremely dangerous. sometimes unfortunately it just doesn't work out. emotionally, we're devastated. we just lost 19 of some of the finest people you will ever meet. i mean right now we're in crisis. i hope i hope my demeanor now does not represent how we all feel. it just happens to be the job that i have at the moment. but truly we're going through a terrible crisis right now. >> and the father of one of the prescott firefighters is calling on the u.s. forest service to improve the

shelters. he's published this video of tests he conducted on the shelter material that's currently in use. in that test he says the firefighters shirt ends up scorched. but then he uses a fireproof material that he says he found on the internet. and he says after a longer test, this new material and the firefighters shirt material held up much better. >> no burn through. still intact. and the firefighters shirt is completely intact. >> the man who heads up the forest service fire shelter improvement effort says the service is now looking at ways to make the shelters more effective. he says one of the difficulties is keeping them light enough for crews to carry with them into the field. and that's it for this week's second look. i'm frank somerville. we'll see you again next week. i'm a doctor of internal medicine

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