 The city of weed, California, lies at the western foot of Mount Shasta. Smoke signaling the inferno that ravaged its residents over the last 24 hours. The destruction left behind by the bull's fire shocked even veteran emergency responders. I've worked on my 37-year law enforcement. I very rarely have seen disasters like this that befall one community. I mean this is devastating. That's immediately evident minutes into a drive around town. One day after the blaze dealt most of its damage. The fire started yesterday, Monday, September 15th, around 1.30 in the afternoon. In a matter of moments, wind blown flames helped grow the fire to more than 200 acres. 35-mile-per-hour gusts blew burning embers all over the place, sparking more fires. When you have a lot more spot fires out there, they're harder to contain, harder to pick up. And I think yesterday you saw a lot of that here. I mean at one point we heard about hundreds of spot fires on the radio and that's where the structures were at. Those spot fires took hold in and around buildings and homes. Mutual aid was en route from neighboring counties while local firefighters responded in full force. California is one of the great states for that because they have a tendency to be able to put 500 engines on the road in just a matter of hours. But depending on where the fire is at, it takes a while to get there. Saving lives came before all else. And to do that, the Siskew County Sheriff's Office jumped into help according to plan. Last night we were very, very busy conducting mandatory evacuations and rescuing people. It moved so fast that they were really lucky there wasn't major loss of life. But because of local agreements, law enforcement actions and getting evacuation done and fire service people trying to keep things contained and the sharing of information, I think a lot of lives were saved. You had firefighters on one street fighting the fire and the next street over, you had law enforcement pulling people out of their homes and getting them out of the area. So we were right there on the edge and started to lose lives. Had they not been here to do that? The view from above gives a better perspective. Cal OES Director Mark Gillarducci explains why this relatively small but aggressive fire is more damaging to the city of 3,000 than the numbers indicate. When you look at a community like weed, maybe in a big metropolitan place like Los Angeles, this would be kind of bad. But when you look at here, it's truly catastrophic. Once on the ground, the director and Cal Fire Chief Ken Pemlot see the catastrophe up close. Entire neighborhoods are now charred skeletons of brick and mortar, steel and rubber. Three years of drought have left bone dry conditions. Destruction was just too easy. These conditions are very erratic and we're seeing it because of the amount of dryness, the amount of fuel that's out there. And when the winds come through, the very, very low humidity, it's almost like a kiln. And it just takes off. Some of the homes lost in the bull's fire belong to the firefighters themselves. Chief Pemlot stops the car during the tour. Thanks for, I know I heard a lot of stories again about what you did in town. I could save my house. It sucks to write out your house, save the town. It sucks. But it had to be done. Yeah, well, I don't ever overuse this word at all, but I got to be honest, and I told somebody yesterday, you're just a hero in my mind because, and not just for what happened last night, but everything you've been doing in this county all summer. Yeah, well, thanks. Four firefighters and a weed police officer all lost their homes. You guys are just rock star. You just wrote everything off to take care of a greater good. And I just, thank you. Well, so they made a tactical decision to burn, to allow their own homes to burn down so they could save the rest of this community. And that's what's so great about all of this. The dedication people have as firefighters, but even more importantly, I think as community members. Many of those evacuated ended up at one of two nearby shelters. The Red Cross welcomed the displays to Mount Chastah High School's gymnasium. Sometimes it's just as hard to know, my house is still there, but both my neighbor's house is burned down. They have the same emotions almost. They feel guilty. Mary Gonzalez and her husband got a red alert message on their cell phone while at the hospital. They couldn't believe what they saw when they were stopped just blocks from their home. You could see the infernal of the wind blowing all the flames and like a tornado just coming down. They're lucky their home survived, but her friend's home did not. Yesterday they have everything, and today I don't feel nothing. None of them had seen any of the fire's destruction. Until now, they wanted to see our photographs. Back in weed, the toll is high. 516 acres burned, 157 homes destroyed and 10 commercial buildings gutted. Including two buildings for the Roseburg Lumber Mill, the second largest employer in town. But despite the numbers, the end result of the bull's fire could have been much worse. Authorities were planning for mass casualties. The mutual aid system and teamwork kept that from happening. And a fire that looked like it would overtake the entire town didn't. Firefighters put weed before cells. These folks made an ultimate decision for the greater good to protect the community, knowing they sacrificed their own property and lost all of their own possessions. That's really hard to put into words, but that's the commitment of the people that work in this. It certainly makes me very proud.