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BOISE — A house fire Thursday night on Boise, Idaho's Hill Road was so hot and so intense that it caused the home to collapse, and the entire scene was caught on video.
The winds were also a problem for firefighters in an area where many homeowners have wood shake roofs.
Because the home was vacant, it was burning for sometime before firefighters got to the scene.
When crews arrived, they knew that the home was a loss and all they could was protect the surrounding structures. That's when something happened that has firefighters calling one of their captains a hero.
As firefighters were protecting the surrounding structures, Cpt. Randy Christensen noticed something and sent out a warning to his fellow firefighters.
His training is what saved these guys' lives.
–Chief Dennis Doan
"He saw the walls starting to bow a little bit and that's when he calls for an imminent collapse," said Chief Dennis Doan. "His training is what saved these guys' lives."
There were only 16 seconds from the time Christensen sent out the warning until the house actually collapsed, but that was enough time for other firefighters to get out of the way.
"It was chaos for a little bit because we did think we had one trapped under there. They were having difficulty finding one of the firefighters," Doan said. That firefighter was eventually found and jumped back in the firefight.
Doan said without that warning the house would have collapsed on those firefighters.
