Californian firefighter clings to life after falling through roof into giant fireball

A firefighter is clinging to life in California after falling through the roof of a burning house into a giant fireball.

Footage shows the veteran firefighter climbing onto the roof of the house to ventilate the blaze, a standard procedure, just moments after emergency services arrived.

As the roof crumbles and gives way, the man drops into the burning building and is swallowed by an erupting ball of flames.

Witness Sooji Li captured the incident on camera.

“I honestly didn’t think he was going to make it,” she said.

Firefighters tore down the garage door and retrieved the gravely injured man moments after the terrifying plunge.

“He did have his mask intact, there were some burns on his back - pretty much all areas of his body,” an official told reporters.

The man remains in a critical condition after undergoing emergency surgery.

Nobody else was injured in the blaze, the cause of which remains unknown.