Man surfs away from apocalyptic wildfire in 'once-in-a-lifetime' video

Brian Lada
·2 min read
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A video has gone viral after a wakeboarder in British Columbia showed off his skills as a raging inferno created an otherworldly scene in the background.

The video, recorded on Saturday, July 29, at Osoyoos Lake near the border of British Columbia and Washington, was taken just hours after a wildfire broke out in the region, one of the newest fires of the record-shattering wildfire season in Canada.

"After seeing the fire in the back, we thought this would be a once-in-a-lifetime video to get on the wakeboard," Brody Mcintosh, who recorded this video, told Storyful.

Despite the apocalyptic scene, Mcintosh said the group was in a safe location -- far away from the fire -- while recording the video.

A man rides a wakeboard on Osoyoos Lake, British Columbia, on July 29, 2023, while a wildfire burns in the background. (Brody Mcintosh via Storyful)

The fire burning behind the boaters was the Eagle Bluff Fire, a blaze that ignited earlier on Saturday, July 29, outside of Osoyoos, British Columbia.

By Friday, the Eagle Bluff Fire had burned over 16,400 acres and was 45% contained, according to InciWeb, an interagency incident information management system. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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The Eagle Bluff Fire is one of the latest infernos amid a record-setting year for Canadian wildfires.

More than 32 million acres have burned across the county since the start of 2023, nearly double the previous annual record of 17.5 million acres, set in 1995.

Wildfire season is also ramping up across the western United States following a slow start, with 1.2 million acres burning across the country as of Thursday, according to National Interagency Fire Center.

One of the most notable blazes to date is the York Fire, the largest fire so far this year in California which has scorched groves of Joshua trees and is threatening additional groves. The iconic trees are native to the deserts of California and can live for more than 150 years.

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