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It was already dark when Copter 17 got an urgent call to head to Eaton Canyon. A fire had been reported at 6:18 p.m.
Mike Sagely, one of the most experienced pilots with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, peered through night-vision goggles as he raced the helicopter across the San Fernando Valley.
“There’s the glow,” he told Chris Siok, the battalion chief sitting next to him. Mr. Siok was on an iPad, poring over maps of Altadena, the community nearest to the growing fire.
It was the early evening of Tuesday, Jan. 7. Thousands of homes in Altadena and neighboring Pasadena, Calif., that would soon be incinerated were still intact. Sixteen residents who were eventually killed were still alive. Fire pilots like Mr. Sagely still had a chance to make a dent in what would become the second-most destructive wildfire in California history, by dropping thousands of gallons of water before the blaze became unmanageable.
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But at 6:36 p.m. — 18 minutes after the first report of the fire — their plan fell apart.
As they approached the inferno, Copter 17 dropped so violently that the two men were yanked up off their seats, restrained only by their seatbelts. Known for their calm under pressure, they both yelped in shock.
