A storm chaser turned to prayer when he found himself trapped inside a burning Los Angeles home during the California wildfires. He says that counting on his prayer was “instinct” as he prayed on the ash clogged street while escaping the blaze. There are multiple fires raging across LA that combined have caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damages
Tanner Charles Schaaf, initially flew to California to spend time with friends over the holidays but “I was praying about it [and] I just felt like I needed to extend it, the next day, the fires broke out.” Even though he’s been documenting disasters for years he says this is the biggest fire he’s ever seen. “We went [to his friend’s house] and started hosing down all the plants, because I noticed that a lot of the vegetation would catch on fire first, before the houses would,” Schaaf explained.
He and his friend desperately tried to save the house: “We were hosing down trees and the house itself, really try[ing] our best to just make it as fireproof as possible.” When they stopped for a moment to check that they were both unhurt, they realized the flames had reached a nearby line of trees. “The whole fence was on fire within like 10 to 20 seconds,” the storm chaser said. “I’m looking out [saying], ‘It is time to go. We can’t do this.’ It was horrific.”
This is when the realized the home was lost, “We tried, bro. I’m sorry,” Schaaf shouted to his friend. “We tried our best.” He said the street was rocked with explosions, “You have embers coming down, the winds are whipping, you have smoke, you hear these explosions,” Schaaf explained. “When the embers would light stuff on fire really close to us, you could hear the sound it would make – it’s just really loud. . . . It felt like I was in a giant oven.”
In dramatic video of the blaze, Schaaf can be heard praying. “God, protect this house in the name of Jesus,” he prayed. “Protect this neighborhood, God, in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.” His friend responded, “This tree is going to kill us.” Schaaf says he incorporates faith into everything he does, especially in dangerous situations. He says God has instructed him dangerous situations.
He says that “[I started saying], ‘I pray this tornado dissipates right now in Jesus’ name,’ and then I would see tornados dissipate in front of me.” He went on to say “You can look online, and you can totally see where it just goes around [me] right when I was praying. So to stop to pray [during the California wildfires], it was instinct.” While he recorded the event, he says he was focused on helping his friend get out of the fire.
“I love documenting the real things that people are going through and what that looks like,” he said. “It just happened that millions of people got to see it. Hopefully, people are looking at that, and they can realize the gravity of the situation and what is really going on. . . . The rise to fame, if you will, is humbling. [I’m] just out here trying to do [my] best, trying to love people well.”