i sunk into my seat, myself, i couldn't think. >> reporter: in the six weeks since, brendan mcdonoughor. grieving in private, and facing the public. >> that was the worst feeling ever, knowing the families would see me, but nobody else off that crew. no one. i was the only person i would see. >> reporter: do you torment yourself, thinking you wish you would have done this or that? >> there is nothing else i could have done except be on the hill with them, if somebody else had been in my position, to be with them in my boots. there was nothing else that i could have done. i did everything that was expected of me. >> reporter: the chain link fence is a memorial of sorts, welcome but pain of reminders for the young man who says he is no hero. do you think of yourself as a hero? >> i just think of myself as doing what i had been told. i look at a hero as somebody who laid their life down. >> reporter: you were prepared to? >> yeah, i would have. >> bless my hotshot crew, my fami family, one and all. >> reporter: at a memorial service in front of the families, with the governor and the vic

i sunk into my seat, myself, i couldn't think. >> reporter: in the six weeks since, brendan mcdonoughed the guilt of the survivor. grieving in private, and facing the public. >> that was the worst feeling ever, knowing the families would see me, but nobody else off that crew. no one. i was the only person i would see. >> reporter: do you torment yourself, thinking you wish you would have done this or that? >> there is nothing else i could have done except be on the hill with them, if somebody else had been in my position, to be with them in my boots. there was nothing else that i could have done. i did everything that was expected of me. >> reporter: the chain link fence is a memorial of sorts, welcome but pain of reminders for the young man who says he is no hero. do you think of yourself as a hero? >> i just think of myself as doing what i had been told. i look at a hero as somebody who laid their life down. >> reporter: you were prepared to? >> yeah, i would have. >> bless my hotshot crew, my fami family, one and all. >> reporter: at a memorial service in front of the families, wit

> he is charged with felony theft and identity fraud no now to an abc exclusive. 21-year-old brendan mcdonough lost 19 brothers in june but the sole survivor is speaking out about what happened that terrible day. mcdonough would have been with the other 19 who died in the fire but the captain made a decision to save his life. he was put on lockout, which meant he had to look on from a distance as his fellow firefighters were swept up by fire. >> i was still with our vehicles in one of the buggies. i could hear phones ringing, knowing it was their wives, their family. i sunk into my seat. i sunk into myself. i couldn't think. >> mcdonough has been to 19 funerals trying to put on a brave public face and stay strong for the families. >> on the heels of mcdonough's first funeral we have found that 13 of them are fighting for death benefits. they were classified as seasonal workers, making them ineligible. >>> it's the first time an amber alert has been issued to all cell phones in california. >> police are hoping the public will help them in the frantic search for a 16-year-old girl whose mother a

and brendan mcdonough is here with us this morning here in the studio with us.rendan, we wanted to say we have been thinking of you and the other families. and just, we want to thank you. thank you so much for your service. thank you. >> will be in our thoughts and prayers for some time. >>> we want to turn to the deadly hot air balloon crash. the father of a prominent california family killed on vacation in switzerland, his wife and two daughters were critically injured when their balloon crashed into a power line. abc's lama hasan has the story. >> reporter: swiss police say they have opened an investigation, trying to figure out how the hot air balloon carrying the american family could have slammed into a power line before plummeting some 13 stories to the ground. 55-year-old grant adamson, his wife, terri and their 20 and 24-year-old daughters had taken off for a sightseeing trip early on tuesday here. an area known as the ballooning capital of the world. they had reportedly chartered a balloon like this one, seen on the company's website. the skies were re

. >> reporter: 21-year-old brendan mcdonough was the lookout the day the fire swept over his team. this video interview was shot by "the daily courier" newspaper in prescott, arizona. >> my captain reached me on the radio saying that we're going to expect 180-degree wind shift and that we can expect gusts up to 50 to 60 miles per hour. and once i heard that, i knew the fire was going to change rapidly and he understood that, too. as i looked back to see how they're going, i turned around and i could already sigh that the wind had shifted. i turned around and i looked back at the fire and i can just see a huge -- just the smoke building, it's starting to gain a lot of potential to move towards us. >> reporter: mcdonough had to move from the fire being pushed by gusty winds. >> i relayed this information back to my captain and he told me "i can see what's going on, brendan, just make sure you're safe, make sure everything's good for you." >> reporter: radio traffic made it clear: his friends were trapped and deploying their fire shelters is a desperate move to protect themselves from

. >> brendan mcdonough's message to the world after the inferno. >>> a new question on the safety of cars. >>> the news is back on "cbs this morning." stay tuned for your local news. >> announcer: this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by choice hotels. the official hoe it is of summer. book direct at choicehotels.com. mine was earned in djibouti africa. 2004. vietnam in 1972. [ all ] fort benning, georgia in 1999. [ male announcer ] usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection and because usaa's commitment to serve military members, veterans, and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. bacon?! gotta get that bacon! bacon?! bacon? bacon! who wants a beggin' strip? meee! i'd get it myself but i don't have thumbs! yum, yum, yum, yum, yum... it's bacon!!! mmmmm...i love you. i love bacon. i love you. [ male announcer ] there's no time like beggin' time. ♪ ♪ ♪ ( telephone rings ) hi, honey. how's the camping trip? well, kids had

according to the first public account of the lone survivor, 21-year-old brendan mcdonough. >> everythingct on a fire. >> reporter: all 20 members of a team, granite mountain hot shots, specially trained to go into wildfires responded that fateful sunday morning in june. >> that's when the superintendent and captain asked me to be the lookout. >> reporter: as lookout mcdonough was stationed here able to see the fire and the other hot shots around the ridge. around 3:45 in the afternoon, the wind that had been driving the fire away from the hot shots shifted dramatically and drove the fire toward them at a quarter of a mile a minute. with flames 50 feet high. trapping the team in a canyon. in his last radio call with them, mcdonough says his captain told him to get out. >> there is nothing i could have done beside been up on the hill with them. had someone else been in my position to have been with them and died in my boots with them. >> reporter: when the bodies of his 19 firefighting brothers were discovered, some were found in protective cocoon shelters, others burned beyond recognition

brendan mcdonough was assigned as the lookout on june 30 while the rest of the elite fire team battledmes. >> i sunk. i was still with our vehicles in one of the buggies. i could hear whoever didn't bring their phones, i could hear phones ringing, knowing it was their wives or their family. i sunk. sunk in my seat. i sunk into myself. i couldn't think. >> steve: he says he can't figure out why he got the lookout job that day, but he did. he's alive because of it. >> clayton: american family on vacation in switzer lands in a hot air balloon tragedy. the family of four from california was on a tour when the balloon hit a power line. the balloon bouncing and plunging 165 feet to the ground after it hit that power line. the father was killed. his wife and two daughters were air lifted to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. the pilot of that balloon, also hurt. >> gretchen: the son of usher in the hospital this morning after nearly drowning. the drama began when the boy ended up at the bottom of the pool. he became stuck in the drain. he was simply trying to get a toy when he was f