Terrifying video shows fire crews trapped by burning inferno
Heart-stopping footage has emerged of the moment five firefighter crews became trapped by a wall of flames while battling the deadly blaze in South Australia.
The South Australian Country Fire Service crews were on their way to help protect the tiny township of Woolsheds, 65km north of Adelaide on November 25 last year.
As the men approach the rear of the blaze, a sudden wind change turned the fire around – and it headed straight towards them.
The men never made it TO Woolsheds.
The harrowing vision shows a cloud of darkness spreading quickly through the air, followed instantly by the fiery face of the inferno.
“We're going to go into burnover, burnover very quickly. Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes,” one of the men can be heard shouting.
"Burnover scotty, burnover. Burnover scotty.”
"F*** me! Jesus f***ing christ! Burnover!" panicked cries can be heard yelling.
With the wall of fire trapping them, the men sit and wait as the minutes tick by.
Before the intensity, two crewmen had left the truck to turn on water pumps.
With the wind shaking his truck and flames coming uncomfortably close, the captain issues a mayday call, fearing for the lives of his men.
“I have two men out of the appliance. I've got no idea where they are," he said.
One of the crewmen, Brenton Eden, told 7News this fire was unlike any he had ever experienced.
"I haven't seen fire behaviour like that in my career,” he said.
“I am still in awe that they got out of that without any injuries.”
The fire was propelled by 90-kilometre/hour winds and fuelled by fields of dried crops – a material that worked in favour for the firefighters.
“The fire passes pretty quickly because it's in stubble. That would not have been the case if that crew found themselves in a forest fire or a scrub fire,” Mr Eden said.
The CFS says the incident serves as a warning to landowners to leave early.
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