A recently released CalFire report reveals how one fire captain narrowly escaped death and banded together with two civilians to save themselves by using a fire shelter — a last resort meant to protect from a blaze burning all around — during the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County.
Around 3:45 p.m. on Oct. 25, the report said, a captain assigned as a division supervisor during the Kincade Fire was near Pine Flat Road near Geyserville, where he had gone to check on firefighters after hearing reports that some were not wearing protective wildland gear.
The Kincade Fire, which eventually burned more than 77,000 acres, had already been burning for nearly two days. Before the incident, there had been a “significant” wind shift from the west to the north, according to CalFire.