Special | 7m 30s | Video has closed captioning.
She escaped the deadliest and most destructive fire in California’s history – but not all of her family would make it out. This is 21-year-old Jordan Huff’s story of loss, love and survival in the face of a record-breaking wildfire.
Aired: 10/15/23
♪ ♪ (indistinct radio chatter) >> Copy, possible power lines down.
Eyes on the vegetation fire, it's... Underneath the transmission lines.
It's got about a 35-mile-an-hour sustained wind on it.
♪ ♪ (birds twittering) >> My Pops had been in Concow ever since I can remember, before I was born.
It's always felt so special.
It's at the end of Concow Road.
And, like, at the top, we always felt like nothing could hurt us there.
And it was home sweet home.
>> He'd grow pumpkins for the grandkids.
So in October, when they were ready to harvest, we'd have jack-o'-lanterns to carve.
And they were Poppa's pumpkins and they were bigger than anyone's you'd seen.
My Pops lost his leg in a farming incident, but they're the stubborn mountain folk.
He was always outside working when we showed up, out in his wheelchair working away.
>> Came out of the community of of Pulga to get a better look at it.
My best guess would be... ...300 acres.
It's heading in the direction towards Concow Lake.
(indistinct radio chatter) (wind howling) We have multiple structures already burning down here.
>> My dad had called my Pops.
He was out there in his wheelchair, um, with a hose, putting out the fires that were breaking out into his yard, and my dad was, like, you know, "Don't worry about it, you need to go, you need to get out of here and leave."
And he said, "Okay, I will, I'll grab the dogs and I'll go."
>> We need to... shut down Highway 70, and then stand by for additional resource order.
(indistinct radio chatter) >> Just be ready to call in personnel that are off-duty right now.
>> Oh my god.
>> There was, like, no sirens or warnings or anything.
No one telling anyone for sure what was happening.
So we're, like, "Oh, let's go check it out."
(horn honking) We just get in the car and we can't even pull out, 'cause there was cars all the way down.
You couldn't even get on the road.
>> Whoa, there's a power line in the road.
>> Everything was red, everything just seemed like panic.
>> I can feel the heat, dude.
>> I'm literally so scared, I really want to make it.
(voiceover): I started freaking out, because the fire's coming at us, and I didn't wanna see it, I didn't wanna feel it.
Like, I didn't wanna be there, I just kind of wanted to disappear, because I couldn't believe this was happening.
♪ ♪ >> Holy (bleep)!
>> It was suffering, moving that slow.
Like, I didn't understand why not everyone was flooring it, like, we were all about to burn alive.
Like, why isn't everyone, like, full speed ahead?
Like, why are we stuck?
Like, why?
How?
(indistinct radio chatter) >> The homes are becoming engulfed.
I need everything you can give me.
♪ ♪ (indistinct radio chatter) >> Flames, get people moving, now.
>> 10-4.
♪ ♪ >> There was literally a point on the road, where it went from hell, to there was a sky again, and there was air to breathe.
And it was this type of feeling that changes your whole entire life; I just got this chance to be able to live again.
♪ ♪ We never gave up hope, you know, we kept looking, and he can't read or write, so we thought maybe he couldn't get in contact with us.
It was two weeks later my mom called me and she was all, like, (voice breaking): "Jordan--" I knew what the phone call was, because, like, my mom doesn't call to talk.
And she told me, they found Pops' body.
And I was like, "Yeah?"
And they were like, "Yeah, they found the body in the home."
And I was like, "Oh," and, you know, I just cried, I didn't know what to say, and she asked me if I'm okay, and I just hung up the phone because you're not okay.
We went out there on December 4, me and dad only.
Literally everything is gone, except, you know, you go out to the back fence, and you see a wheelchair, you see his watering hose, burned to a crisp all the way dragged, all the way right next to the wheelchair and a bucket of water.
Your mind, like, wants to make an image, but you don't really want to make an image, but it does it anyways, and... (sniffles) and, man, is it crazy to have an image like that in your head.
He was insanely tough, and smart, and he was a gentle giant.
♪ ♪ An existential crisis, that is already taking lives and monuments from countless people all around the world.
♪ ♪
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