In a recent interview with 101WRIF, Wednesday 13 shared details about a fire outbreak that occurred while filming a music video. The shoot was near a highway when suddenly, a massive flame appeared.
“We’re filming our video, we’re right next to the highway which is probably two 300 feet away from us,” he recalled. “Third take of the video, I’m staring at the camera. On the side of the highway, I see a flame just shoot out of nowhere, just a poof, the size of a truck, I mean a big flame. We all just panicked, we’ve been watching the news for two weeks of these fires, and there’s one right in front of us.”
Wednesday 13 was determined to save the shoot. “Everybody panicked, everyone started running to their car because we were just going to leave. My brain said, ‘We’re going to lose our video, what the f*ck. I’m not going to meet my deadlines.’ Just the wrong thoughts in my head.”
Putting Out the Fire
Instead of fleeing, he decided to take action. “I’m like, ‘No, I’m putting this fire,'” he continued. “So I run to the fire, see it, there’s a fence separating us. I jumped over a fence I’m in full makeup full stage gear. I see this fire burning there. There was a empty planter bucket because all those trees were there, there was just some some empty buckets there, and I saw on the news that they were using dirt to put out some of the fire. so I took a big scoop of dirt, I threw it on the fire and it kind of did something and I went, ‘Oh sh*t, grab buckets!'”
“So we all start grabbing buckets and we’re throwing dirt on it because there’s hoses everywhere on this property, but we can’t get the water to turn on. It’s the most frustrating thing and we’re literally pointing hoses and they just drip and I’m like, ‘Dirt, dirt!’ So we’re throwing dirt on it and we put the fire out before the fire department got there,” he added.
Authorities later informed them that an arsonist had been setting fires along the highway for weeks. “The fire department got there and they put out what was left the embers and the whole thing. Then they told us that an arsonist had started fires on that highway for two weeks and they hadn’t caught him. It’s been happening every other day. So I’m convinced if we wouldn’t have put it out, that would have burned that whole thing down.”
The First Warning
A month earlier, Wednesday 13 shared videos from the incident and warned fans to stay safe. “We were filming our new music video at a location that rents out trees and shrubbery for movie sets. About an hour into filming, we were in the middle of a take and I saw a giant flame just come out of nowhere over the shoulder of our director Vicente. About 150 feet away a fire just came out of nowhere on the side of the highway. We all panicked and started looking for water hoses, which were everywhere, but we couldn’t find out how to turn the water on.”
“Everyone was screaming and our first thought was to get in our cars and just get out of there, but I couldn’t do that. I knew if we didn’t try to stop this it could turn into something major. So I jumped right into the fire in full stage clothes, and make up and my band followed right behind me. We were able to get the fire under control using buckets of dirt to smother it until the fire department arrived.”
He also addressed accusations that the band had started the fire. “A few people stopped off the highway and tried to help(THANK TOU) and one started accusing us of starting the fire. Complete madness, but we’re all safe now. After watching all these wildfires out here in California destroying peoples homes and lives, I knew I had to try something to Stop it. Unfortunately I suspect arson was the reason for this. It appears that someone tried to start this. Thank you everyone for all of your comments and concern on this.”
The fires that started in early January this year took the homes of many people, including some rock musicians.
