Sam and Keith Moreau, filmmakers in Brisbane, California, found themselves in the midst of one of the worst fires on San Bruno Mountain in decades. They managed to get some footage of the fire close up before having to evacuate, as they also lived on one of the streets adjacent to the mountain.

Not knowing if they would see their house or possessions again, they packed up their film gear, their 2 dogs, and went to an adjacent hill and continued to film the burning mountain. They were able to return to their home just after midnight.

Keith, Sam and the rest of the residents of Brisbane were lucky. The winds were unusually calm that night, the air was moist and cool, but 100-foot flames could still be seen soaring up from the wildfire.

Firefighters for Brisbane, local towns and the CDF created backfires and were fortunate enough to have a lone water-bearing helicopter at dusk to help hold the fire line. At that moment over 800 other wildfires were raging across California, taxing firefighting resources to the limit.

In the next days, Sam and Keith hiked and filmed across the mountain. Captured in this film are few moments of what they saw in the mountain's Buckeye and Owl canyons.


This was filmed with a Sony XDCAM EX1 CineAlta Hi Definition Camcorder and Edited with Final Cut Pro.

Music is "Finale" by Danny Elfman from "The Kingdom."