SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CA(KCBS/KCAL/KEYT/CNN) - Earlier this month, a massive wildfire closed in on a summer camp in California.
It moved so fast that it cut crews off from the roughly 80 children trapped at the camp, but a man from the U.S. Forest Service braved the nearly impassable roadway to save them.
It takes just a split second for this wildfire to explode.
"This was literally like a nuclear bomb went off," said Steve Oaks, division chief with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.
The intense flames were blocking first responders from getting up a narrow, dirt road.
Even worse, about 80 kids were enjoying summer camp at the Circle V Ranch, literally in the line of fire, with no way out.
"I knew that there wasn't a chance for the fire to go left or right. It was all funneling right towards Circle V," said Mark Von Tillow, incident commander with U.S. Forest Service.
The counselors loaded the campers in the few cars they had, but the blaze was just too intense. They had to turn back.
"It was all orange and smokey, and there was a lot of black," camper Ashley Hart said.
They're the same conditions rescuers faced, the fire's intensity forcing them to retreat.
"I needed to get somebody that we had communication with up there," Oaks said.
Oaks sent David Dahlberg to give it a shot.
"There were a few sections of the road that were enveloped in smoke, totally covered. I could not even see the hood of my vehicle," said David Dahlberg, fire prevention technician at U.S. Forest Service.
Rocks and tree limbs were falling from above. "A few hit my truck and rolled off my truck," Dahlberg said.
A wall of flame rolled across the road, again keeping sheriff's deputies at bay, but not Dahlberg. He was the only one to beat the flames.
"The fact that Dave was able to get through is still, frankly, a little bit of a mystery," Oaks said.
"It definitely could've been a lot worse. I just try not to think about it," Dahlberg said.
The campers were all sheltered in the dining hall.
"It shocked me that it was that close to us." Ashley said.
Dahlberg worked to make the camp more fire safe, his presence calming the kids, but his own video shows a fire still bearing down.
Firefighters battled the blaze from the sky. Then a bulldozer arrived and began clearing nearby brush.
Eventually more rescuers made it just as the fire was reaching camp.
"(It was) starting to come up toward the camp, and it was wrapping some of the buildings," Dahlberg said.
With the bulldozer leading the way, the rescue vehicles loaded up the kids and headed down the hill.
"One of the fires burned down the tree, and it fell right next to us as we were leaving." camper Christopher Hart said.
All of the campers made it out, back into the arms of their frightened parents and thankful for the rescuers who likely saved their lives.
"It's very well appreciated that you kept our camp safe, and most importantly, you kept all of us children safe," Ashley said.
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