Officer's Body Cam Video Shows Terrifying, Early Hours Of North Bay Firestorm
SANTA ROSA (CBS/AP) -- Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano released body cam footage from sheriff's deputy Sgt. Brandon Cutting which showed frantic moments during Sunday night's evacuations as a fatal firestorm roared into residential neighborhoods north of Santa Rosa.
The footage shows the deputy conducting door-to-door evacuations and rescue in the Mark West Road area of Santa Rosa.
"I think it really tells the story of how dangerous and how difficult the event was," Giordano said at a press conference Friday evening.
"It's absolutely human and it's very real and very honest and transparent," Giordano said.
"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" the deputy yells at one point to drivers who are hesitating and moving slowly as they flee along Mark West Springs Road.
The deputy, wheezing and coughing, runs to several doors shouting "sheriff's office!" for anyone who may be in earshot.
As Sgt. Cutting staggers through the hot winds he can be heard coughing from the thick smoke.
He then comes across another deputy with a woman in a wheelchair right next to a house that is burning and lifts her into an SUV to take her away.
Back in his car, he appears to drive straight through the flames at one point as he tries to help evacuees to safety.
For hours overnight 15 Sonoma County deputies tried to get people to safety, dodging flying embers and encroaching flames in the process.
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