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A Minnesota storm chaser who found himself inside a burning Los Angeles home during the California wildfires this week described how his faith was “instinct” as he prayed on the ember-filled street while escaping.
Tanner Charles Schaaf, who flew to Los Angeles to spend time with friends during the holidays, said God had told him to extend his trip by a few days.
“I was praying about it [and] I just felt like I needed to extend it,” Schaaf told Fox News Digital. “The next day, the fires broke out.”
Even though Schaaf has chased natural disasters for more than 16 years, he said he had never seen a wildfire as large as the Palisades Fire.
He met up with a friend who lived in the LA area and helped him gather belongings, knowing there would be large losses.
“We went [to his 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 said. “We were hosing down trees and the house itself, really try[ing] our best to just make it as fireproof as possible.”
He and his friend stationed themselves in the front and back of the house, each armed with hoses. They met inside to check on each other and saw a hot ember engulf a nearby tree and fence in flames.
“The whole fence was on fire within like 10 to 20 seconds,” Schaaf said. “I’m looking out [saying], ‘It is time to go. We can’t do this.’ It was horrific.”
A video Schaaf posted of the pair’s escape from the home garnered millions of views on social media platform, X.
“We tried, bro. I’m sorry,” Schaaf shouts to his friend in the video. “We tried our best.”
He described hearing random explosions, comparing it to a war zone.
“You have embers coming down, the winds are whipping, you have smoke, you hear these explosions,” Schaaf said. “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 another viral video, the two are briskly walking out onto the fiery street, and Schaaf can be heard praying over the neighborhood.
“God, protect this house in the name of Jesus,” he said with his hands raised toward the homes. “Protect this neighborhood, God, in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
PALISADES RESIDENT DESCRIBES LOSING HOME IN FIRES
His friend responds in the distance, “This tree is going to kill us.”
Incorporating faith into everything he does, especially in a situation where he knows lives will be forever changed, is important, Schaaf said.
He remembered talking to an older man who was hunkering down with young nephews, refusing to evacuate.
“He’s like, ‘Oh, we’ll be fine. My house is fireproof’,” Schaaf said. “There are just things like that in the back of my mind where I’m like, ‘Did they actually make it out?’ . . . Taking time to pray is really important. I believe prayer is so powerful, [it] can shift so many things in the world.”
A few years ago, Schaaf said, he asked God to show him His power when he was chasing storms. He said God responded by telling him to start praying when he is in dangerous situations.
“[I started saying], ‘I pray this tornado dissipates right now in Jesus’ name,’ and then I would see tornados dissipate in front of me,” Schaaf said. “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 having viral videos is exciting, he said his focus was 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.”