. >> whitaker: in early september we flew with britt coulson, wayne's son, and tech wizard at coulson aviation. he turned on the powerful thermal imaging camera and the caldor fire burst into view. >> britt coulson: those flames are higher than the trees. >> whitaker: as we flew closer, we watched a fountain of flames exploding over the tree tops. there was fire everywhere, every point of light a potentially hellish new blaze. >> britt coulson: the embers that come up when it's really intense, they're going to spot out far ahead. >> whitaker: zooming in, britt coulson showed us a spot fire that had leapt over a containment line dug by firefighters. >> britt coulson: so let's say if they were trying to catch it along that ridgeline there? >> whitaker: this has already jumped over? >> britt coulson: it's jumped over. without this type of technology, they're never going to see that. >> whitaker: we circled the fires at 13,000 feet. below us, we spotted the command helicopter with joel lane. a thousand feet below that is where the chinook flies. lane directs the big chopper to the drop zo