A Minnesota storm chaser found himself inside a burning home in Los Angeles during the storm Wildfires in California This week he described how his faith was “instinctive” as he prayed in the embers-strewn street during his escape.
Tanner Charles Schaaf, who traveled to Los Angeles to spend time with friends during the holiday, said God told him to extend his trip by a few days.
“I was praying about it (and) I felt like I needed to extend it,” Schaaf told Fox News Digital. “The next day the fires broke out.”
Tanner Charles Schaaf shared photos of the house he escaped from with his friend during the California wildfires. (Tanner Charles Schaff)
Although Schaaf has chased natural disasters for more than 16 years, he said he had never seen a wildfire of this size before. Palisades fire.
He met a friend who lived in the Los Angeles area and helped him gather his belongings, knowing there would be significant losses.
“We went (to his house) and started washing all the plants, because I noticed that a lot of the plants would catch fire first, before the houses caught fire,” Schaaf said. “We were washing the trees and the house itself, really trying to do our best to make it as fireproof as possible.”
He and his friend were positioned in front and behind the house, each armed with hoses. They met inside to check on each other and saw a hot ember engulfing a nearby tree and a fence catching fire.
“The entire fence was on fire within 10 to 20 seconds,” Schaaf said. “I'm looking out (saying): It's time to go. We can't do this.” “It was horrific.”
Tanner Charles Schaaf shared photos of the house he escaped from with his friend during the California wildfires. (Tanner Charles Schaff)
The video clip that Shaf posted of the couple escaping from the house received millions of views on the social media platform X.
“We tried, bro. I'm sorry,” Schaaf shouted at his friend in the video. “We did our best.”
He described hearing random explosions, likening it to a war zone.
Tanner Charles Schaaf shared photos of the house he escaped from with his friend during the California wildfires. (Tanner Charles Schaff)
“You have embers falling, the wind is blowing, you have smoke, and you hear these explosions,” Schaaf said. “When the embers set fire to things very close to us, you can hear the sound they make — it's so loud… I felt like I was in a giant furnace.”
In another video clip that went viral, the two briskly walk out into the burning street, and Schaff can be heard praying in the neighborhood.
“Oh God, protect this house in the name of Jesus,” he said, raising his hands toward the houses. “Protect this neighborhood, God, in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
A Palisades resident describes losing his home in the fires
His friend answered him from afar: “This tree will kill us.”
Tanner Charles Schaaf shared photos of the house he escaped from with his friend during the California wildfires. (Tanner Charles Schaff)
Schaaf said incorporating faith into everything he does, especially in a situation where he knows life will be changed forever, is important.
He recalled speaking to an older man who was taking shelter with his young nephews and refusing to evacuate.
“He was like, 'Oh, we'll be fine. My house is fireproof,'” Schaaf said. “There are things like that in the back of my mind where I'm like, 'Did they really pull this off?' “Making time to pray is really important, and I believe prayer is very powerful and can change many things in the world.”
Schaaf said a few years ago he asked God to show him his strength when he was chasing storms. He said that God responded to him by starting to pray when he was in dangerous situations.
Tanner Charles Schaaf shared photos of the house he escaped from with his friend during the California wildfires. It was completely burned during the fire, Schaaf said. (Tanner Charles Schaff)
“(I started saying, ‘I pray that this hurricane dissipates now in the name of Jesus,’ and then I see the hurricanes dissipating in front of me,” Schaaf said. “You can look online, and you can see exactly where I was going when I was praying. So, to stop praying (during the California wildfires), it was instinctive.”
Although it's exciting that the videos went viral, he said his focus was on helping his friend get out of the fire.
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“I love documenting real things people go through and what that looks like,” he said. “It just so happened that millions of people were able to see it. Hopefully, people will look at that, and they can realize the seriousness of the situation and what's really going on…. The rise to fame, if you will, is humbling (I'm) out here trying to do my best.” And I try to love people well.
