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CHICO, Calif. (AP) - Newly released video shows the dramatic moment firefighters rescued three people and two dogs as thick smoke and flames fast approached in Southern California.

The Los Angeles Fire Department released video Tuesday of a helicopter crew rescuing the group from a mountain peak as a wildfire bore down.

The Nov. 9 video was taken as pilots David Nordquist and Joel Smith battled the Woolsey Fire, which was raging through the Santa Monica Mountains toward Malibu.

The crew was making a water drop when it was asked to rescue the group. The pilots headed that way despite dwindling fuel.

With smoke darkening the sky, they hunted for a landing spot among antenna towers, service buildings, cars and vegetation.

They finally found a tight spot and saved the people and their pets.

This Nov. 17, 2018, satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows a neighborhood in the northern California town of Paradise after a wildfire. Desperate families posted photos and messages on social media and at shelters in hopes of finding missing loved ones, many of them elderly, nearly two weeks after the wildfire known as the Camp Fire. (DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company via AP) The Associated Press
Unhealthy air from wildfires obscures Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) The Associated Press
Unhealthy air from wildfires obscures Alcatraz Island and a container ship Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018, in Sausalito, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) The Associated Press
CORRECTS THE DATE TO NOV. 18, 2018, NOT SEPT. 10 - This Nov. 18, 2018, satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows part of Magalia, situated around Magalia Reservoir, center right, north of Paradise in northern California after a wildfire. Desperate families posted photos and messages on social media and at shelters in hopes of finding missing loved ones, many of them elderly, nearly two weeks after the wildfire known as the Camp Fire. (DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company via AP) The Associated Press
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