-- i wanna show her, you know, like, "your mother really did love you." >> reporter: maybe someday she'll know about that uncontainable woman who while she stayed brought joy. marie. >> reporter: that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. >> it's a presence. you can sense it. it has an energy all to its own. it felt like a beast. suddenly i was in terrible danger. >> the sky turned brown. the sun was blood red. it was as if the world were coming to an end. >> houses on fire, trees on

fire. i was transported into a war zone. >> i just lost it. >> i hear my dad screaming it's here, run. >> you have to push through. you do not stop. i said please send somebody. and she said, there's nobody to send. >> it was, survivors said like something alive, a living, breathing, giant that came out of the woods to hunt them down. the flames were so relentless, they burned for a month. so fast, they raced through three football fields per second. hi, everyone, i'm lester holt. welcome to dateline. in this episode you'll hear from the people trapped in it's path, how they ran for their lives against the flames, against the clock to escape. and it began in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

>> it was perfect. it was our dream home. >> it's exactly what you want if you want to be away from a city. >> it's so peaceful and so calming and to me it's heaven on earth. >> the mountains are gorgeous. it's the valley of the sun. >> i grew up in ramona and i always loved just the people and the area. >> ramona is 30 miles east of san diego in the foothills of the mountains. >> i'm a huge fan of rescuing animals. my favorite animal that we had in 2003 is my horse that we rescued at 3 months old from canada. she was my favorite. she's very special.

i raised her from nothing. >> we have two dogs we rescued and cats and the pot belly pigs were rescued because people got them and decided they didn't want them anymore. >> i got her two pigs. unfortunately that wasn't a great idea. that's not the way to a woman's heart i guess. >> i'm just not a pig person, i guess. >> we live in the community of valley center which is northeast of san diego, probably about 50 miles. >> john and i actually decided to move to valley center when our children were small because we wanted them to have a more rural environment to grow up in.

>> jason was always looking at and making sure that everything was okay. he was a complete boy scott. >> i tried to stay away from doing a lot of dumb things. i tried to be the more cautious of my family. >> allison was our middle child. she wouldn't test the water before jumping in. she would just jump in. ashley loved irish dance. it was a part of her soul. and she just absolutely glowed when she was dancing. >> october 25th, 2003, my youngest sister ashley's homecoming dance. her first. she was just glowing and excited about going to the dance. >> she picked out this really beautiful sleeveless red satin

gown. she just looked beautiful. just like the perfect little lady. >> and grown up. >> and we're thinking, gosh, time is passing so fast, and she's growing so quickly. so you want to slow things down and cherish every moment. >> saturday started out as a typical day for us. we had alley. our 18 month old daughter. we did projects around the ranch and took it easy. >> it was a nice, relaxing day, but at the same time it with us dry and hot. we stayed close to the ranch when it was dry and hot. >> i worked as a helicopter pilot for the sheriff's office. we received a call of a missing hunter in cleveland national

forest, east of ramona. >> dispatch called us as we were in route to the missing hunter. >> the winds are blowing probably 30 miles per hour at that time. >> and said now there was a call of smoke coming from the same vicinity of our missing hunter, we realized as we got closer, there's a fire on top of this hill. >> i went down to feed at around 5:20 in the evening, which is before dusk, because that's when the animals want their dinner and that's when i saw the smoke. it was a clear blue sky and out beyond this over the mountains, it looked like somebody had taken a pencil and drawn a single whispy line. it was just a single plume in

the sky, and that was the start of it. >> coming up. >> he was just yelling, i smell smoke. >> concern begins to spread but flames are spreading faster. >> the ash. it almost looks like snow. you know the fire is coming toward you. >> i said this is going to be bad, isn't it? he said, yes it is. >> when dateline continues. t is >> when dateline continues ♪ ♪ you... keep doing you. we'll take care of medicare part d. by helping you save up to five dollars on each prescription, and with free one-on-one pharmacy support, we've filled over 2 billion prescriptions and counting. stop by walgreens and save today. walgreens. trusted since 1901.

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-[ laughs ] -will he? -i don't know. >> it was just before halloween in 2003 and there was something frightening in the california forest. people had begun to see smoke in the air. the fingers of the beast. none of these families knew yet that it would be heading straight toward them. >> station 73 is situated a few

hundred yards away from our front door. the relationship between the fire department and our family started when ashley introduced herse herself. she calls from the fire station would be afternoon and said mom what are we having for dinner? i said i'm fixing bean and ham soup. and i ended up with a dining room full of firefighters trying to stretch my dinner, which it worked. >> we ended up inviting them down for thanksgiving, for christmas, for new years. >> we had a halloween party. the firefighters came down. >> everyone was busying around. it was also busy because ashley, our youngest, was getting ready to go to her homecoming dance. so it was an exciting and very

busy day. >> we had just entered a new chapter in our lives. our daughters were off at college, and we wanted a change. >> so in may of 2003, we moved into the canyon and were very naive, i think about the potential for fires in that area. >> we actually had gone to a halloween party for our dog club. >> we took tara to the party. >> we had a blast. we had so much fun. dogs with fairy wings and dogs dressed as bumblebees. we got home from there about 10:00 at night and i fell asleep on the couch in the family room. bob came rushing down the stairs and he was just yelling, i smell smoke. and i have never smelled it this

strongly before. >> we live in the town of lakeside and the particular area we live is called verona. it's extremely rural. our closest neighbor is probably a half mile to a mile away. it's just a wonderful place to raise girls. >> in 2003, i was 13 and my sister was 11. >> i just remember the smoke alarm going off and getting up. >> so i go to my parents room and ask my mom what's going on. >> i decided i would call the sheriff's department. the sheriff's told me that the fire was ten miles away. at the time, the winds were not bad, they didn't think it was going to spread so for us to go back to bed and things would be

fine. >> thomas was always trying to get me to relax during fires because i would hit the panic button every time. i had no experience with fires when i moved to ramona in 1990. >> i had evacuated numerous times. growing up, there's a fire, you evacuate. >> i said to myself, well, it's still light enough i'm sure the planes will come, but i'm going to call 911 anyway because i'm paranoid about fires. >> the evening the fire started, i had just gotten home when the pager went off and so i immediately said good-bye to everybody and loaded back up. >> got about ten minutes from the house when i looked up for the first time and was able to see the fire very briefly, but i was able to see the beginning of an active burning fire. >> i went and got the scanner

that we had. we had a fire police scanner because of incidents like this. >> this is a confirmed fire. 20 acres mid slope. >> and i was listening to them watching it get darker and darker realizing the planes were not going to come. >> we have anyway to get in here? trapped down here. >> that's negative. it's after cutoff. >> they had a very difficult time finding an access point to get to the fire. >> fire still looks to be proximately 20 or 25 acres. very difficult to access. we're still trying to get in on this thing. s going to be awhile. i'm not sure if we'll be able to get in or not. >> the road structures for narrow little nasty,

firefighters could barely make it down there. much less everything that's needed to be in there. it was a really bad scenario where that fire was. you could say it was the perfect storm. >> they were calling crews from far away. northern california, other states, so i knew that response was going to take a long time. >> hotshots are in route to your fire. >> thanks. >> so i tried to act as normal as possible because my daughter needed me to. i put her to bed around 7:00 and went upstairs to sit on the roof where i could get a good view of it. the glow got bigger and started to spread from north to south and around 10:00, the dispatch lady said, i'll never forget this. he said the marlins won the world series and santa anna

winds are expected to reach 60 to 80 miles per hour tonight starting at midnight. flame driven santa anna fire is the most deadly kind of fire that we have in southern california because the combination of dryness and the wind speed means the fire can travel at 60 to 80 miles per hour. the head of the fire. and i knew at that point that it was going to be really bad and i said to thomas who joined me up on the roof. i said this is going to be bad, isn't it? he said yes it is. >> it was moving faster than we thought it was. what the fire was doing was it was spotting. when i say that, it means that you have a flame front and then out in front you have different fires starting because embers are getting thrown out half a mile, mile ahead. so new fires are starting. >> i had all of these things going on in my head. what are we going to do with the baby and all the animals? i had to make the right

decisions. >> when he said i need to video our contents for the insurance company. i need to grab the video camera and quickly take video, that's when i knew how worried he really was. >> i'm going to get the fire pump out and leave it. >> at one point i decided to call my friend bob. i said bob, there's a fire, you need to be aware of it, but it's coming at us. can you home over and help us prepare. my moms was a safe place to go. the fire was to our east. so there's no way the fire is going to get to my mom's. she's to the west. that's the way the fire is going but it's ten miles away. the thing we start noticing is the ash. it almost looks like snow. when the ash starts falling on you, then you know the fire is coming toward you. then it's just like oh [ bleep ]. that's the fire. i mean, that is like step up your game. you got to get going.

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significant increase now. we're probably less than an hour before we start seeing some heat over here. >> we were aware that the cedar fire had erupted probably 25 or 30 miles away from our house. so we weren't very concerned about it. >> when we really started getting concerned was when allison called us. she was taking a friend home and said that the reservation was on fire. >> we could see that the fire was a couple of miles north, so not heading toward our house. i thought well, we should be fine and we would just leave if we had to be evacuated. >> we had been warned by the firefighters that if you get the evacuation notice you need to be prepared to get out quickly. i put the photo albums in the truck. some of our paperwork in the truck and we hooked up the suv to our tent trailer and pointed all the cars down the hill in case we had to get out quickly. so our plan was to all get in

separate vehicles and take all of our vehicles off the property. it was about 1:00 in the morning. allison and ashley were asleep and we went into the girl's bedrooms and we did have them get dressed and sleep in their clothes just in case. >> so i asked jason, can you please take the first watch? and, you know, periodically, every 15 minutes or 30 minutes go outside and checked the fire. >> it looked like at that time that the fire was moving through the north end of valley center heading west and it looked like that's where the largest glow was. at 3:00 a.m., i go around and tell my parents that it looked like the fire had moved into the center valley center away from us and that i was heading off to go to catch some rest. >> so at that point i layed back down and thought we were in good shape and i went down to sleep myself. >> heads up, the fire has picked up quite a bit. >> i opened our bedroom door and the smell of smoke was pretty

overwhelming. we tried to find information about the fire. we went online and went to the news sites. >> then i was able to talk with a person at the fire station just two miles up the canyon from us and he said, well, you're safe where you are because it's in ramona. so i sat there on a chair by our window and thought god help the people in ramona. >> horses are really good at, you know, feeling what their owners, their riders are feeling. so they know we're nervous, so they're starting to get nervous. they're starting to get jumpy and dangerous. >> when i heard that the fire was going to start moving at 60 miles per hour. i knew it was time to get the horses out of here so i came down and i opened the trailer and i started to load them. the first horse loaded no problem and then it was time to load fia, and she didn't want to

go in. she knew i was upset and she would put one foot in and back out. two feet in and back out. i tried cookies and grain and everything. i was pleading with her. you have to get in this trailer and i had to make a choice between never seeing fia again and getting alley out. so i turned her loose. i said turn them loose. it's the only chance they have. and i didn't look back. >> you would think mother nature had a watch. right at midnight the wind hit and it hit hard and the fire exploded. that was when i could hear it. it sounded like the roar of a freight train. i looked up past the trailer to look at the mountains and where it had just been an orange glow, i could see flame. >> it was literally a firestorm.

so we're bracing ourselves against the wind. we're hearing the roar yelling to each other what to do. it went from a fire that was moving at maybe 3 miles per hour to a fire that was moving at 30 miles per hour. i could just feel it racing toward us. we could see it growing in height. >> it felt like a beast. this beast was everywhere. it was all around us. it had a sense of purpose. and the purpose was to go west at 60 miles per hour and eat everything in it's path. there's also a sense of presence when there's that energy around you. you can feel it in a way that is absolutely terrifying because you know it's far beyond your ability to control or protect yourself from or do anything about. at that point, honestly, i stopped thinking. my vision got very narrow.

all i could think was get alley out of there. get her out. >> the baby is the most important. so we alley out of here. i'm going to stay with the house as long as i can. try to take care of the horses, keep them calm. >> so i ran inside the house. i picked her up as gently as possible, she was asleep and i loaded her in the car. at that point i already had five cats loaded up in the backseat of the car. i got the dogs in the trunk. i called 911 before i left the house. it was a last ditch effort. i said please, my husband is staying behind. please send somebody. send an engine. the fire is really close. i'm leaving with my daughter. please send somebody. and she said, there's nobody to send. i drove down the drive way and drove as fast as i could and i realized the bushes on either side of me were on fire.

so i couldn't see the road. all i could see was flame and i just drove through it because i had to. >> coming up -- >> we told our command that it's too dangerous. >> up in the air. >> we felt like we were going to crash. >> down on the ground. >> it looked to me like the entire world was on fire. >> when dateline continues. on e >> when dateline continues hole room smelling like sweaty odors. yup, he's gone noseblind. he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... ...there's febreze fabric refresher. febreze doesn't just mask, it eliminates odors you've... ...gone noseblind to. and try febreze unstopables for fabric. with up to twice the fresh scent power, you'll want to try it... ...again and again and maybe just one more time. indulge in irresistible freshness. febreze unstopables. breathe happy.

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president trump hitting the stumps for ron desantis. he's locked in a tight battle to become the next governor of florida. trump says gillum is doing poorly as mayor of tallahassee and isn't equipped to run the state. gillum has a narrow lead. both candidates bead out more mainstream politicians in their primaries. desantis appeals to trump voters. now back to dateline. >> the fire was now several miles wide and it created this black smoke going down and it was from the ground level to several thousand feet.

>> we started getting people to evacuate. we tried to get under the smoke and we would get smoke across the windshield. the visibility would go to almost nothing. we would get frightened and man, let's get the heck out of here. it got so bumpy that we were hitting our helmets together and on the side of the aircraft. it became so turbulent that we decided to get back to the base. we felt like we were going to crash. >> i thought in the back of my mind, i hope those people wake up. we're talking about after midnight. most people are asleep.

>> i went out to answer it and nobody was there. i looked out the window and the entire world was on fire. i just saw flames i would have sworn were 50 to 100 foot tall. at that point i yelled. i said get up. we're out of here. there's a fire. >> there's something in her voice that i knew i needed to do exactly that. >> he says get up, get up, get your books, get to the truck. we have to go. >> take your pillows out of your pillow case and fill your pillow case up with everything you want to save in case the worst happens. >> i had a backpack and i kept

all of our home movies together in one spot for a moment like this. >> i remember when we were going out to the car our neighbor being hysterical. she was screaming and crying, and that scared me more because she was another adult who was also hysterical and panicking. so that meant this really is serious and i need to be scared too. my dad was honking the horn and i could see the fire. >> that thing is all the way around us. i have fire to the south and it's headed to verona. >> we told our command, it's too dangerous. no sooner did we shutdown, they're calling for us. they want us back out there. we told them we couldn't go out. >> i said well, i got an idea i used to work the patrol station a mile down the road.

let's get a car. i know every block on that beat. i know where all the residences are. >> i remember one particular gentleman saying there's no fire and he's standing there in his under wear and i said take a look. he used some cuss words and everybody in the house started waking up, and then we were out of there to the next house. >> everywhere you looked was on fire. the hills, the ridges, the houses, the field in front of us. the oak tree. everything was on fire. >> that thing is moving fast. >> within five minutes it went to complete black where we couldn't see. heat, fire. the next thing i hear is john screaming get out now. >> as we were getting ready to leave i came out and reached for

the front door and opened the door and was immediately hit with a blast of hot air and embers and fire all over the carpeting in front of me. in a panic i turned and yelled in the house, everybody get out now. the front porch on the edge was on fire. >> i hear my dad from the middle area of our house just screaming it's here, run. and i look out the door of my bedroom and i have a clear shot down to the other end of the house and there's embers flying into the house. >> ashley has her dresses in her arms, including the dress she had worn the night before and she opened the door. she goes out, the door sucks closed behind her. >> the fire station was about 150 yards total from our front

door to the station itself. you know that that's where there's some chance of safety. i start running and there's everybody who is there is scrambling for cars. >> started to try to open the door to the truck to just climb in and i can't get the door open because the wind is blowing so hard. >> the sound was like a jet engine, like if i was three feet away from you screaming, you couldn't hear me screaming at you. it was that loud. i could see allison standing and i can barely make out she says i can't find my keys. so at that point i just tell her, forget your keys, run. i'm thinking she's going to run either to us or to jason. and then right after she takes what sejust seems like a few

steps, this incredible ball of fire goes past followed by smoke and that i know is when my first set of shock really set in because i was processing, i think she's dead. right there in front of me. >> coming up, barely one step ahead of the flames and only one option. >> the only way out was to drive-thru the flame. . >> the only way out was to drive-thru the flame in the water, in the water, you ready for this? she doesn't like it... you've gotta get in there. okay. careful not to get it in her eyes. i know, i know what a bath is... smile honey. this thing is like... first kid. here we go. second kid. you coming in mommy? ahh not a chance! by their second kid, every parent is an expert and more

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>> the orders i gave to each of them as they went in. i want them to continue to fight and do not base any actions on any support because i can give you nothing. you are on your own. >> if i had had a hundred fire engines and lined them up on top of the fire, it would not have stopped that fire. there was no stopping that fire. there was nobody that ever fought a fire that had ever seen anything like that before. it just took it off the charts. i had no idea. it absolutely took it overwhelmingly in every way. >> i knew there's no way we're going to get to everybody. i knew people were going to die that night.

>> lee had hoses going on the roof. we were wetting things down. you just have this little hose and you have this fire you can't even see the top of. the roar is deafening. sprinkle that down. sprinkle this tree down. let's get water over here and then suddenly there's like this weird -- i want to say there was a sound, but there was no sound. all the lights from all the neighbors, everything just went dark. everything shut off. so with us on wells, we had no water pressure. it just died. the wind got knocked out of me. there was nothing else i could do. so that's when i yelled to my friend bob, i said, let's go. we got to get out. >> around 3:00, i woke up and i looked out the window that is

right beside our bed. >> i saw him standing in front of the window and the window was just a wash in this yellow light. >> i could see it across the canyon. it was evidence of how fast it had covered the 15 miles between us and ramona. >> my wife called me to tell me we were being evacuated at home. i said from what? she said the fire in ramona. i said i'm on that fire. she said i know. i couldn't believe, i live 30 miles from the fire. i couldn't believe that my own home, and i'm in charge of the operations of this whole fire, and that's how i found out my neighborhood was threatened. >> i went back out to look out the window again and this time not only did i see this huge

swath swath of flames, but i saw this gr glow and that's when i knew we were looking at this mhuge fire. i said you get your negatives. i'll take care of the dogs. i started slamming collars over dog heads and didn't realize until later that i had put both collars on one dog. >> i went downstairs to get chelsea, and as i was getting chelsea i could see very clearly that the fire was already at the house. i had opened up the garage door and went on out to put chelsea in the trunk. the cage didn't quite fit in the trunk, but i closed the lit hard enough that it fit. >> just as i got to the garage door was when the lights went out. i could hear a cracking noise like a lightning strike. at this time, bob was yelling from inside the house. i can't find my car keys.

i said, we'll just take my car. >> there were embers swirling. small dust devils of not dust and trash but embers and flame. >> when allison turned around ran away from us and i saw the flame and the smoke come behind her is when i first went into a state of shock. it was very confusing. everything was just -- just felt off. it wasn't flowing. >> i had to leave so that everybody else could get out because i'm blocking everyone. so lori and i are in my truck and we start heading down the driveway, slowly looking for allison. >> where's allison? we can't find her and we're driving and we're looking and we're trying to figure out and we figured maybe we missed and

she got in the car with jason? it didn't make any sense. so she couldn't have been in front of us. we haven't driven past her. there's a fence. she couldn't have gone through the fence. the fence was on fire. so it didn't process as to where she could have possibly gone. >> coming up, sisters with just seconds to survive. >> she was panicking. >> i just lost it. i said i don't want to die. i'm too young to die. >> when dateline continues. with uncontrolled

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smoke. i can't see too far in front of me. we make it down and up to the gate. the gate has trouble opening. it finally does open. we started moving out hopefully with everybody following us out, which was our plan everybody following us out single file. ashley gets into the passenger seat, and as i get in the driver's seat the driveway is clear for me to leave. as i come down the driveway, the fire was doing two things. it was laying flat across the driveway so you could barely see the asphalt. it was also arcing up over you. it looked like you were driving through literally a tunnel of fire. >> right outside our gate was a barn. it was completely engulfed in flame and the flame now with the fire blowing, that direction was blowing the fire across our driveway in front of our escape

route. the only way out was to drive through that flame. i gunned the engine. and went through the flame. and right after that the truck stalled. >> and all that i can see is fire. all the way around and the truck won't start. >> i tried, i don't know, maybe four or five times to get it to restart. >> we can hear the sound of the truck bending. the metal is popping. and i know i was screaming at john to get us out, get us out. >> it finally restarted again. i couldn't see anybody behind us. >> i'm looking for alison. where? she's standing. has she fallen? where's alison. >> as i get down to the bottom

of our driveway i see a shape coming up out of the driveway. and it turns out that it's my sister alison and she was on her hands and knees crawling and i remember seeing her smoking, like she, you know, just come out of a shower steaming. she looked like that but smoking. >> after we all got in the truck my dad backs out of the driveway and start driving down the dirt road to get to wildcat canyon because that's where civilization is. i look outside the truck windows for the first time and fully see the fire within 25 feet of us in the road. and that's when i panicked. and i said where are all the firemen? to look outside and see so much fire and no firemen, no fire trucks, nothing, was terrifying.

>> we came to this 30-foot wall of flame. the flame seemed like it was alive. i would describe it as fire breathing dragon made out of fire. our only way out was cut off from us. >> once we hit that wall of flames reality set in. we're going to die. we panicked. i lost it. i didn't want to die. i said i was too young to die. i was hysterical and crying. >> it was heartbreaking. something you never want to hear your child say, i don't want to die and knowing there's a real possibility it will happen. >> she was panicking. i was her big sister. i needed to take care of her. so i grabbed her hands and i said look, we're going to pray. god, you promised you would take

care of us. you promised you would never let us down. >> she's calming me down. praying with me. holding my hands. it's kind of working. >> i was so impressed just to hear my own daughter saying something like this who is 13 years old and speaking to her sister and calming her down. it was just really a beautiful thing, something i'll never forget. >> i had no idea what we would do at that point because we were going in the same direction the fire was going. if we turn around we would go right back in the fire. >> so lonnie stopped the truck. it's like, okay, what do we do? are we going to try to drive through this? will we survive it? and at that point i heard someone or something whisper into my ear, and i know it wasn't lonnie, i know it wasn't

the girls, it was another being, and what they said was go to the pond. >> i turned left out my driveway and got about 1,000 yards and it was coming up the road on both sides. i couldn't see anything but flames. it was coming at us. i mean, it was immediate. it wasn't stagnant going over the road. it was roaring up the road. i had more than one life in mind. i my life and my friend bob's life. and, again, i had to make another decision, do i go for it. it was like a split decision. it was just that quick. just step on the gas. for a second it was a slow down oh, [ bleep ] and then go. >> coming up -- >> suddenly i knew i was in terrible danger.

>> the menace grows. >> my sister is in trouble. >> you don't know what it's like to leave a human being behind. >> when "dateline" continues. you... keep doing you. we'll take care of medicare part d. by helping you save up to five dollars on each prescription, and with free one-on-one pharmacy support, we've filled over 2 billion prescriptions and counting. stop by walgreens and save today. walgreens. trusted since 1901.

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>> desperate families escaping california wildfires. >> the air you're breathing is several hundred degrees. you have to microwave. you take a breath, you burn your lungs. >> i knew i had to get there to get out of the canyon. that was it. there was no plan b. never before in california's history had so many homes and lives been threatened by wildfire, all at once. all of our survivors, the youngers, the roachs, and jackie

lloyd and thomas levin were in danger, desperate to outrun the flames. it would be the race of their lives. >> i turned left out my driveway and got about, you know, 1,000 yards and it was coming up the road on both sides. and i couldn't see anything but flames. it was just step on the gas. i mean for a second it was a slow down [ bleep ] and then go. the adrenaline was pumping so much i wasn't sensing anything other than like my heart beating, and the ringing in my ears. the smoke is so thick that you don't really see anything but the smoke. and so i go through this, i go through the smoke and suddenly there's flames. then as, like crackling, yellow rage right like all around and

you're like, you know, you kind of just like fall into it. you just keep on going. you have to. you got to push through. you do not stop. and so i drove through actual flames for about 100 yards. and bob is on my tail. i mean i just, i had my eye, one eye glued on the rear view mirror to see if he made it because i didn't think he was going, i really didn't think he was going. then he burst through. literally it's like, you know, this slow motion gunshot through a barrel. he just kind of puff of smoke separated us and he burst through it. i was like oh, thank god. thank god. >> as i come down the driveway, i see my sister coming up and she was on her hands and knees

crawling. so i tell ashley get in the back seat, and as she's jumping into the back seat, alison comes up and opens the door and gets into the passenger seat of the mustang. and as soon as she shut the door i pushed on the gas to my mustang and it tried to stall. i really started to panic and i slammed the gas to for the car to go forward and went screaming up the driveway and i see that this car blocking the road. i swerved and we ended up crashing head on into one of the trees. >> kept moving the truck forward, still so smokey you couldn't see ten feet in front of the truck. then all of a sudden we got out of the smoke, i could see the firestation in front ever us, i got out of the truck, looking back to see who was coming out of the smoke behind us.

i was expecting a car to come out from behind us. >> i finally got down to my mother-in-law's house and i thought this is the safe zone, we're safe here. i unloaded the five cats and the dogs and our daughter and i turned my daughter over to my sister-in-law and i said i just need to go outside and be by myself for a minute because the enormity of what happened it felt like a huge weight was pushing down on me. i sat outside and i was on the bumper of my car and hung my head and i tried to cry. i prayed for firefighters and neighbors and other people in town who i know were probably running for their lives like we had. i really tried to cry but i

couldn't cry because there was nothing left in me at that point. so as i was praying the wind suddenly stopped and i thought were my prayers answered? and i sat there and i looked around and i realized that it was snowing and giant, giant flakes, like in utah, giant flakes. and i held out my hand and i caught one. i touched the ash and suddenly i knew i was in terrible danger because the wind had stopped. and it was not a miracle. it meant that the fire had created its own weather and it was right on top of us. so i ran inside the house and i said to my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law, it's coming. we have to get out of here. it's coming.

>> nobody is moving. and so i get out of the car and i go around to the side to get the door open for my sisters. and as i get to the door i get hit in the face with embers and soot and heat and i can't see where i'm going. all i know is that my sisters are here, they are in trouble, i need to get help. i need to get out. even though it's smokey, even though it's hot, i know where that firestation is. i know which direction it's at and i know where to go. so i'm running down the street not realizing that i don't even have any shoes on. the air you're breathe is several hundred degrees and you're behavioral going to microwave yourself. you burn yourself from inside out. you take a breath you burn your lungs. >> he stand there and waited and jason walked out of the smoke

and i yelled at jason where are your sisters? >> and the only thing i can get out is they are back there. and i see my sister alison walking out of the smoke staggering and i'm thinking to myself, you know, she's got soot all over her and it's not registering that that's not soot, that's fourth degree burns. >> i always prided myself in being prepared. i was not prepared for this. i see alison. and i'm not even really processing that she's that hurt. i'm looking at my daughter, i'm a registered nurse and i still don't see how bad this is. >> the next thing is me and her getting shoved in the back of an ambulance. >> somebody asked me if i wanted to go with them to the hospital. i said no, i need to wait, because i knew i had to wait for ashley. i watched john run towards the

smoke. >> so, i started moving towards the fire and the sheriff grabbed my arm. >> my husband raised his fist to the sheriff like he was going hit him. >> i was trying to get out of his grasp so i could get to where i thought ashley would be. i went into the smoke and i couldn't breathe. it was black. it felt like there was no oxygen going in. it felt like trying to breathe water in. then i felt one of the sheriff deputies next to me and i just remember him pushing me back the other direction. and we got crawling back out of the smoke. >> where's arcually? she will be coming out. she will be coming with somebody. ashley will be coming out. >> i drove to my mom's house, crying, thinking, you know, i let everybody down. i knew the house was gone. i knew the horses were gone.

i knew anything that was left there was gone. and, you know, i pulled in and i said it's gone. everything is gone. >> and i looked at his face and he had been crying. i could tell he had tears. his cheeks were wet. he said we lost everything. >> i was the one that was saying it's going to be good, it's going to be fine. i lived through 20 of these. i'm the man of the house. what decision did i make that was the wrong decision. i should have started sooner to get the horses out. i left. you don't realize what it's like to leave something behind, a living being behind. >> at that point all i cared about was he was okay. but on the heels of that thought we have to get out of here now, it's not safe. >> there was this glow coming over the mountain. it was like seeing something from, from "the hobbitt" or something.

the armies are coming and marching over the hills. i grabbed my mom, she didn't put up a fight. i said when we had to go she said okay. i threw her in the car and just bolted out of there. >> coming up -- in peril, and in panic. >> we're stuck in the middle of this firestorm just sitting in the truck. >> then all of a sudden the tires caught on fire and we have flames coming up higher than the hood of the truck. i'm thinking just like you see in the movies the truck is going to explode. >> the flames start licking up over the engine, under the hood, up the front windshield. this truck is going to blow up. we have to get out of here. what do we do? >> when "dateline" continues. when i first came to ocean bay, what i saw was despair. i knew something had to be done.

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leave no room behind with xfi pods. simple. easy. awesome. click or visit a retail store today. . i remember my mom grabbing my dad's shoulder at that point and at the wall of flames and saying the pond. lonnie, we have to go to the pond. so my dad popped in reverse and he got us going in the direction, back into the fire, granted, but towards the direction of the pond. >> on one side of the pond there's a dirt hill on the other side is a cliff. if you go off of that there's a

canyon and you're gone. then the truck stopped moving and then panic again, fear. we're stuck in the middle of this firestorm. just sitting in the truck. what do we do? >> so we said, okay, i guess we have to get out of the truck and walk down the pond or run down to the pond. >> well we get out and run. >> we follow our parents. we put our shirts over our mouths to filter out the smoke a little bit. >> the heat that night was if you opened your oven and that gust of heat that comes out. it was surrounding us. >> after five or ten more feet we told our dad, look, we can't do this. it's too hot. there's too much smoke. >> we said okay, we'll get back in the truck. lonnie decided he would try to start it and see if it would start.

>> my dad started to get the truck going and turned the ignition over. finally it started. we were not stuck. we're not out of options. we can keep going and maybe we'll make it out of here alive. but then after we get going we hit another plateau and the truck stops again. >> then all of a sudden the tires caught on fire and we have flames coming up higher than the hood of the truck, i don't know about the cab of the truck. but higher than the hood. oh, my gosh what are we going to do. i'm thinking like you see in the movies, the truck is going to explode. >> this truck is going to blow up. we have to get out of here. if we get out of the truck then what we'll get caught up in the suffocating heat and smoke. >> eventually the flames start licking up over the engine. under the hood.

up the front windshield. and my mom said we have to get out. the truck is going to explode. we need to get out of the truck now. so we didn't even grab any of the stuff we had packed. everyone just immediately first got out of the truck. i run towards the back of the truck back in towards the fire. because i didn't want to run past the burning tire and then the canyon is on the other side so i run to the back the wrong way. >> i said linda, you got to go to the front. i put my hand up like this to get her attention. >> we were yelling as loud as we could because the winds were howling and blowing so hard. >> and what happened at that moment is the radiant heat burned my arms. and lonnie said it looked like i had black cotton candy all over my arms. and i don't remember feeling

anything. lonnie went ahead of us. went down to the pond and then he came back and said we can't go to the pond, the brush is on fire all around the pond. we can't do that. >> an engine went by us towards our house. and i thought, okay, they are going to find ashley. so we got back in my truck. and the deputies got us across the street to the field. >> we were sitting in the truck. it seemed like an eternity. in a while a friend of ours, he was a deputy sheriff at valley center station is walking towards the truck. and there's another man with him that we don't know at the time. and he is the one that had to let us know that ashley had actually died in the car, and

that they found her. so the man that was with him was the sheriff chaplain. there was more confusion. he started asking how many children do you have. we have three. where are the other two. they are in the ambulance. it seemed like he kept repeating over and over again. he told us there were two bodies in the car. i didn't understand what the meaning was behind them finding two bodies in the beginning. it didn't make sense. later we found out that, of course, there was only, you know, ashley in the car alone and it wasn't until we met with our pastors that we understood the significance of that for our faith, which to us ashley was not alone in that car. >> we believe that there was

two. it was my sister and her angel and we believe that in her last moments she wasn't left alone in the back of my car. she didn't pass away in fear and in pain. that she had that angel with her to guide her to where she now lives. for whatever reason ashley just didn't get out. it will never be explained. because ashley did die in my car, there's always going to be that sense of could i have done more? could i have done things differently? but at the same time, if i allow myself to constantly relive that moment and constantly wonder, then i'm not helping anybody. >> we're homeless. we have nothing. we've lost a daughter.

alison is in critical condition. the doctors are not giving us any hope. our entire existence was being alison and jason and just holding ourselves together. >> coming up -- >> a daring ride down the mountain. >> i did not want to drive off that edge so i started yelling, i can't see the road and bob is yelling back at me, you're just going to have to remember where it is. >> and a mad dash back into the flames. >> i was transported into a war zone. this can't be real. i get up my driveway and there's a fire truck and a crew, your house is on fire and we can't put it out. >> when "dateline" continues. , t his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... ...there's febreze fabric refresher. febreze doesn't just mask, it eliminates odors you've... ...gone noseblind to. and try febreze unstopables for fabric. with up to twice the fresh scent power, you'll want to try it...

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i'm dara brown. president trump continues to make his final push ahead of the mid-terms with events in montana and florida on saturday. trump to concussion on immigration and the economy in his closing argument. he'll be in tennessee and georgia on sunday. both candidates in the georgia governor's race are condemning a

robocall from a white supremacist group aimed at stacy abrams. now back to "dateline". it was starting to dawn on me that the size and scope of this fire was like nothing we had ever dealt with before, not even close because of the rate of speed that it was traveling was absolutely mind-boggling. >> we couldn't find a place that was safe. first of all, we were safe at home. that was okay. then that was dashed away from us. then we go to my ma's, if we're not safe the other place is safe. we get there and that's dashed away. it got to the point where we didn't know where to go. >> it felt very much there was something coming at you. you had to keep moving. >> it was like quick sand. every time we thought we got on

something solid it would swallow us up again. >> so i called a friend of mine. i dawned on me i had a friend who lived way north of town and maybe she was safe. and she said come on over. >> it was like 3:30, 4:00 when i got there. i came in there. i think we cried for a little while. >> and i said, i hear organs nice. it rings clear. >> i backed up the driveway, and paused for just a second at the top of the driveway to shift gears. >> the road was essentially the dark spot in between flames on both sides of the road. >> when i first got that glimpse of this huge swath of flames on the mountain with curling, dancing orange and red waves, i just thought how extraordinary

that i get to see this? this is really nature at her rawest, at her most real, at her most powerful. >> we were both working 120% just to get one vehicle out. >> there's only one way out. which was the case for many communities in the back country that were affected by the fire, which is why so many people right around us in wildcat canyon were trapped. so i was concerned from the beginning when i realized that there was fire on both sides of the road that we wouldn't make it out to the main road and i knew i had to get there to get out of the canyon. that was it. there was no plan b. >> there's a fence made out of wire and i recall looking at the wire and thinking it tooked like the elements in a toaster. the wire was just glowing red because it was so hot. and when we could see the road

we could see it primarily because it was the only thing that wasn't burning. >> we hit a bank of smoke. and it was impenetrable. it was just like looking out the window of an airplane and thunder hit. just completely opaque. and i couldn't see the road. >> when we hit the wall of smoke, and sandra couldn't see anything, i did not know how to solve the problem. >> you have to keep in mind we were coming down the side of a mountain. to the right of me it completely falls away and i did not want to drive off that edge. so i started yelling, i can't see the road and bob is yelling back at me you're just going to have to remember where it is. and at that second a bobcat jumped out of the brush right to my headlight.

>> i sat there and there was no sleep coming. you know, i was kind of relaxing but i was also kind of itching to do something. okay, now what? now what are we going to do? as i was sitting there trying to sleep we got a message that our house was still there and we couldn't believe it was still there. >> it wasn't time for a victory dance yet because we couldn't believe that anything could have survived. >> i wasn't 100% sure the fire had gone through and it wouldn't come back or what it was going to do but i had to check. mainly really it wasn't the house it was the animals, the horses. go find them and see if they are okay. lend support to the horses and to help them. so that was really the reason to go back. >> so i said to thomas, why don't you just go. see if you can get to it and see what's left. >> i get in the car and, you

know, i just make my way back there. as i'm driving through this development, i was transported into a war zone. i was like, this can't be real. you know, i wasn't seeing any people. i was seeing houses on fire, trees on fire. nobody around putting anything out. it was just burning. as i drive up to my house and through my teary eyes because they are still watering, i see my house still there. i'm like, i was just -- it was unbelievable. i mean i felt like i could take a breath for the first time in 12 hours. >> you called me as you were pulling into the dry. you were hysterically crying with joy. the house is fine. the next thing you said [ bleep ] it's on fire. i got to call you back and you hung up. >> coming up -- a life or death decision. >> we watched the mountain that we grew up under just completely

burn up. >> a lifeline from the wild. >> something in me told me to follow it. >> and a life threatening mission. >> it was a bomb getting ready to explode. the stupidest thing i could have done. >> when "dateline" continues. in the water, in the water, you ready for this? she doesn't like it... you've gotta get in there. okay. careful not to get it in her eyes. i know, i know what a bath is... smile honey. this thing is like... first kid. here we go. second kid. you coming in mommy? ahh not a chance! by their second kid, every parent is an expert and more likely to choose luvs than first time parents. luvs with nightlock plus absorbs wetness faster than huggies snug and dry for outstanding overnight protection at a fraction of the cost. live, learn and get luvs.

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the queen sleep number 360 c4 smart bed is only $1299 - save $400. plus, 24-month financing on all beds. only for a limited time. sleep number. proven, quality sleep. it was one of the most devastating wildfire outbreaks california had ever known. thomas levin and his family had escaped those flames but just barely. he decided to return home to see what, if anything, remained and he stepped right back into danger. his house was on fire. >> i get up my driveway and there's a fire truck and a crew, they are trying to put out the pool house, it's on fire. your house is on fire and we can't put it out. the gasoline is broken and it's feeding gas into the attic. we're almost out of water. if we don't get it out in the

next 15 minutes we'll have to leave and go where we can help somebody else. i said why don't you turn off the gas. it seemed logical to me. we had 1,000 gallon tank. the firemen wouldn't go near the propane tank because it was so dangerous. getting ready to explode. because i was so full of adrenaline and not thinking i just ran over to this super heated propane tank and i turned it off. stupidest thing i could have done. this was a bomb that i walked over to and just turned off. and then i ran back to the firefighters i got the gas off. is it off. they go yes bath it's still on fire. >> the pool house was on fire. the firefighters were doing whatever they could to get it out but they couldn't get it. they were worried if i didn't get the pool house out it would catch my main house on fire. the only thing i could think of

is to get my bulldozer. the main house was connected to the pool house by a 25-foot common wall. if the pool house wasn't ignite it could run to the main house. as soon as i crack open the door the firefighters turned own their water hostages. i backed out and was able to breathe. >> i knew that the bobcat was on the road. it was running flat out. not running up the side of the mountain. something in me told me to follow it. so i followed this bobcat. >> when the bobcat ran in front of her and she followed it, that was really fortunate. i'm not certain that had i been driving i would have followed

the bobcat. >> that's how we found our way out just inch by inch, finding asphalt under the tires all the way down. the bobcat saved our lives. i think of the bobcat as this grace that dropped into our lives at the moment when we least expected it but most needed it. >> somewhere down the road we pulled into a gas station, and opened up the trunk to look at chelsea and chelsea was pretty featherless at that point in time. she lost all her feathers and was a bald cockatiel. yes bald cocktiels are as funny looking as you can imagine. >> we get out of the car. i walk my sister past the tire

and i go, i catch up with my dad because i'm a daddy's girl, i walk with him. my sister is a mama's girl and she walks with mom. we keep going in the direction towards the pond where we think we're going to end up and we actually end up at a very large dirt clearing. >> so, we decided at that point we're going to stay here, we'll lay down, we'll be safe here and that's what we did. we laid down in the dirt clearing for hours, watched the mountain that we grew up under just completely burn up. >> what i remember laying there, i thought it was somebody screaming. i just heard this high pitch loud, just sounded like somebody was screaming for their life and possibly dying. >> it's possible that it was a propane tank exploding. it's possible it was a mountain lion, because apparently they can sound like that as well.

and i mean that was really hard to hear, to imagine that you're safe in a dirt clearing but someone is possibly stuck in their house. >> heartbreaking. i still understood that somebody was dying. we pretty much laid there and watch it die down. watch it all pass over and it started to clear up eventually. eventually we could see the stars in the sky wyatt no point during the night we could even see the light from them. >> our neighbors who were walking down the road, they saw us, found us, and i justi remember the look of shock and joy on their fists. one of the first things they said oh, my gosh we saw your truck. we thought that you had probably died in it. we're so glad to see you. >> it was an eerie feel. no one there was.

the pigs were gone. the horses were gone. in that time someone came up to me and said i think your horses are over at the neighbor's house. and when i saw them, i just -- you know, i can't even explain how relieved i felt. if i could have screamed loud enough to tell her they were okay i would have. i got on the phone and i tried and tried and tried. when we finally did talk on the phone that was the first thing i said. horses are okay. we brought them back. >> i think that's when i finally started to let go enough to start to cry when i heard they were okay. completely unscathed. not even a singed hair. >> in the midst of this i hear this grunting sound which just scared the beejesus out of me. what's this gruntsing sound.

here comes two pigs. again, unscathed. they are only two feet tall. their bellies touch the ground. and here they come up the hill. and, you know, looking for food. >> coming up -- >> 12 of our neighbors right around us in the canyon within a mile died that night doing the same things we were doing at the same time. why did we make it out? >> perhaps the most powerful story of all, the miracle that emerged from the flames. >> my prayers had been answered. we have been blessed. what more can you really ask for? >> when "dateline" continues. with uncontrolled moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, you never know how your skin will look.

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thinking back and probably survived, it was pure miracle, pure luck, pure chance. it was split second decisions and basically miracles that got

us here today and we're very lucky that we survived. >> lonnie and the girls were able to go back up to the house wane few days. i mean everything was gone. our property, we had a total of five people living in three cabins. and out of the five people there was only one who made it out of the fire alive. it has made me realize just how precious life is. and how fortunate we are to have made it through and for our daughters to have found safety. >> the devastation was staggering. at the time it was california's largest wildfire on record. it devoured more than 270,000 acres. destroyed more than 2,200 homes. and claimed 15 lives. but what was it that sparked the

flames? helicopter pilot dave weldon who answered that call of a huntser missing in the cleveland national forest had the answer. >> so i was sitting right there on those rocks. the fire was about 15 feet away from the hunter. >> when we first looked down at him there was nothing around except the fire and this hunter right there who we later identified at sergio martinez, actually lit the fire. he admitted to starting the fire. in order to signal for help and he told me he had been lost for several hours and he knew darkness was approaching and he was scared.

it appeared it was a bic lighter that lit the fire. one bic lighter. >> martinez was arrested and he did plead guilty and was in the end sentenced to probation and april fine. he did not go to jail, which many people felt was a miscarriage of justice. i went to most of the court proceedings. so i went over to him and said, i lost my house in the fire and i forgive you. and he started talking about his involvement and his remorse.

i don't know if it helped sergio martinez that i forgave him, but i know it helped me. we knew that we were walking miracles. 12 of our neighbors right around us in the canyon, within a mile, died that night doing the same things we were doing at the same time. why did we make it out? i don't know. but i know that god was with us through that. >> this fire changed the way i looked at the community, looked at my everyday life. when the chips are down and the community is facing adversity, the community still comes together. that's what changed for me. i got to see it. and it was amazing. >> i think in some ways i really did die on that night. i died, took the old way of

life. there's a lot of things in this life that no longer meant anything to me. >> one of the miracles is we still have fia with us today. she's thriving and she's still the boss. we make sure that she gets everything she needs and then some. she's a big part of the family. >> coming up -- the inferno's devastating aftermath. >> we did everything we could do. wasn't enough. lives were lost. >> the physician told our pastor to prepare for another funeral. >> once "dateline" continues.

the constant criticism that we heard immediately after the fire was that firefighters weren't there, they were abandoned. i understand that frustration. communities were left. but not by abandonment. by inability to get the resources. we just didn't have them. those were some of the finest hours of our troops. they never gave up.

i've always looked to help people, to be what keeps them safe and we did everything we could do. wasn't enough. and lives were lost. >> the funeral of your child is the worst experience that a parent could go through. it is against nature, really. so one thing that was really incredib incredible, that our friends helped to organize for ashley was one last ride on a fire truck. >> we didn't want to put ashley in a hearse.

>> i remember seeing police lights on both sides of the street and the street was empty except for people standing along the street. >> then all the firefighters were the honor guard and it was really special for us. >> the physicians told us that she had less than 15% chance of survival. the physician told our pastor to prepare for another funeral. they lost hope. >> my name is allison roach. and i survived. i was burned second and third degree burns over 86% of my body. i actually can't say how many

surgeries i've had, but i've lost count at roughly 30 surgeries. i didn't think about having a family or falling in love because i felt in my own head that one was going to want to marry someone who looks like me. i very much felt like a frankenstein for a very long time. i was very lost with what i wanted to do for a career. i ran into an old friend of mine and she said san diego zoo safari park is hiring photographers. i interviewed there and was hired on the spot. i would say about three or four months into the job, strangest thing happened. i was photographing at the front gate and this young man comes up to me and he says hi, how are? i look at him and i knew he worked there. i had seen him once in a while. i politely said hello back.

he got shy and his face went quickly white. he said, you know, i'd like to talk to you but i got to get going. so i'll see you later, bye. so we were engaged in april of 2008 and then we were married in january of 2009. and it's been a very beautiful marriage. >> on her wedding day, my prayers had been answered and her dreams had been fulfilled. >> another miracle from god is now i'm also a mother of the so not only was i given the miracle of life but i've been given the opportunity to give the miracle of life. >> i had somehow sustained only minor burns, being the same

situation that my sisters were in. >> when the fire came through, it completely leveled the house down to nothing. it was just a pile of ash. we rebuilt the house, it is on the same spot that the other house was in on the same piece of property. >> we have been graced with an incredible life. we have been blessed with three incredible children. we have two incredible children who are still with us. absolutely delightful grandchildren. so what more can you really ask for and how can you be angry and bitter over that? >> uncommon grace from the roach family. questions remain. certainly yoe martinez the hunter who set tim per afire in the national forest did not set the fire that trapped the roach family. they were caught in a smaller blaze known as the paradise

fire. investigators believe that, too, was arson. but no one has ever been charged. today san diego county does have an early warning system in place. officials say it has already saved lives. that's all for this edition of "dateline." good morning everyone. i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters. it's 7:00 in the east, 4:00 a.m. out west. two days and counting until the midterms. crunching the numbers, new polls on the battle for house. whether the president's new focus on immigration is really working. >> got to come in legally, folks. you can't come in that way. did they energize our base or what? >> why did the folks who won the election so mad all the time? >> what to expect as the current