“Ten minutes later, we were on the water and we saw the whole part of the lake shore where we had been standing just go up in flames.”īy Tuesday, Justin and his father were headed home to Boston, with little more than the clothes they had been wearing when they escaped the blaze two days prior. “We flagged them down and they came over and grabbed us, and we got onto the boat,” said Justin. That’s when they saw a small boat floating on Lake McDonald, with two people on board. Once they were back at the trailhead, which was safe from the fire for the time being, they walked down toward a nearby cabin to see if anyone could help them. “But somehow - a few prayers and a Higher Power - we stayed on the road.” “It was absolutely insane, I don’t know how I was able to keep the car on the road,” he said. At times, Justin said, he was going as fast as 40 miles per hour. With his father’s guidance, Justin kicked the car into reverse and drove the vehicle all the way back to the trailhead at the end of the road. “I thought we were trapped, there was no way we could turn around on the road.” “I saw that and I thought we were going to die,” Justin said. That’s when things went from bad to worse: a tree ravaged by the intense fire had fallen down across the road, blocking their escape route. In the video, which has gone viral, a worried and shocked Justin can be heard praying that they make it out alive, as his father tries to calm him down, repeatedly telling him “you’re doing good, you’re doing good.” Flames lined the dirt road and seemed to reach up toward the car like orange snakes, making a slight hissing sound. To the right and left of the vehicle, limbless and charred trees were glowing through the smoky forest air. It is a story of Montana, of the ways of wildfires, firefighters. It felt like it was a 100-degree day, and your car had been sitting in the parking lot all day.”Ī video taken from inside the car as Justin and his father tried to escape the inferno shows embers flying toward the windshield like a swarm of bugs on a highway. On August 5, 1949, a crew of fifteen of the United States Forest Services elite airb. “The car started getting hot really fast. It was just walls of flames on both sides of the car,” he said. But after they took a few more turns, the situation deteriorated. Initially, there was some “fire near the road,” he said. “Everything looked fine for the most part,” Justin said of the start of their drive. The pair gathered their gear and headed through the woods toward their rental car, which they planned to drive back along Lake McDonald Road - the way they came in - to safety. “I told my dad, ‘I think we need to get out of here before it gets any worse.’ ” "Now I realize we were in a real mess.“It grew. "When you see the tape, and the fear, and the reality of what could have happened, it kind of hits home more now," Charles said. The next day, they realized their rental car was burned beyond recognition. The two parked their rental car and were able to get a ride from two people on a passing boat. "My wife says I'm thick as a brick, so you know, she figures, 'You're not smart enough to know you're in trouble.'" "For some odd reason, I wasn't as frightened, I thought we would be OK, I thought we could get out of it," Charles said. "We get to where it is real intense, fire on both sides, almost made a canopy over us, and it made a glow, and the thickness, and you couldn't really see well."Īfter coming up on a fallen, burning tree blocking the road, the two put their rental car in reverse and drove about half a mile until they were able to turn around and drive away. "You can see the flames, and we're driving right into the heart of it," he added. 2 stabbed during fight in Worcester 32-year-old man arrested
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