Surrounded by wildfires, an Oklahoma meteorologist was looking over his shoulder for a way out when he spotted a heifer and calf wandering in the direct line of a massive fire.

"Look at this, oh my gosh," said Mike Armstrong, swinging his camera around. "There is a baby calf right over here. Oh. My. Gosh."

Armstrong, a field meteorologist for KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City, was reporting on the Rhea wildfires near Canton, Okla., on Tuesday when he spotted the cattle. It was midafternoon, between broadcasts, so he was sharing footage on Facebook Live with chief meteorologist Damon Lane in the studio.

Fires! Watch KOCO Field Meteorologist Michael Armstrong save a bunch of cattle from a huge wild fire. Good job Mike! (Go to the 16 min mark) https://goo.gl/cNP6QZ Posted by Meteorologist Damon Lane on Tuesday, April 17, 2018

"Do you need to cut that fence?" Lane asked. "If you need to go, go. Oh my gosh."

Armstrong was on one side of the fence, the cow and calf were on the other, and beyond them was the quickly approaching fire line.

"Does that not drive it home how serious this is?" Armstrong said. "There's nothing I can do."

It wasn't the only thing on his mind. He'd just seen a propane tank explode only 50 feet away, and was watching homes erupt in flames nearby. Armstrong had to consider his own safety, as well as his broadcast. Not to mention the firenadoes, which are exactly as terrifying as they sound.

The cattle, however, took his attention.

He backed his truck down the road and found an unlocked gate. When he pulled into the pasture, he spotted a larger cattle herd on a hillside even closer to the fire line.

Armstrong grew up around cattle, but wasn't a rancher. After he got into the pasture, he wasn't sure how to coax the herd toward safety.

"That hill's on fire, and there's no way to get to them all," he said. "Damon, I don't know if I can do this. I can try."

Luckily, his Facebook audience came to the rescue. The commenters watching the rescue effort live all had the same advice.

"Tell him to honk"

"HONK his HORN"

"Honk your horn they will come you're way"

"Now honk the horn."

It's a rancher's trick to call cattle, Armstrong said. They'll think it is feeding time and come running. Sure enough, the herd followed him off the fiery hillside and toward green grass.

"Good job, Michael, everyone on Facebook is throwing up a bunch of heart signs," Lane said in the studio. "Michael, you have a lot of people who are crying now on Facebook. I'm getting a lot of comments."

"Now don't say that, you're going to make me emotional," Armstrong said, showing the cattle following his truck toward safety.

After taking the larger herd to safety, he doubled back to find the calf and cow that first caught his eye. When he used the honking technique the second time, it scared the calf. As the calf ran toward the fire line, Armstrong scrambled to open fences and follow.

Just when it seemed that the calf was going straight for the flames, it darted behind the fire line, "in the black," Armstrong said.

"As long as he stayed in that area, he'd be OK," Armstrong said. "At least it got them out of that field."

When he was reasonably sure the cattle were out of harm's way, he left the pasture, making sure to keep the gates open just in case the cattle needed to escape. He said he was surprised by how quickly the story spread.

"I've been in media now about 20 years," he said. "I've been a part of big stories, but cattle is No. 1 right now."

As for the herd, Armstrong said another KOCO reporter went to that pasture today and reports that the calf and heifer are still there, as is a large herd nearby.