As California firefighters battle three separate blazes in and around Los Angeles, residents of the affluent suburb of Palisades told the BBC they were fleeing the oncoming flames.
Pacific Palisades resident David Latt said he and his wife had just 10 minutes to grab important documents and family photos before they were stuck in traffic for two hours trying to escape.
In an interview for the Radio 4 Today programme, Mr. Latt said he was unaware of the fire until a neighbor alerted him.
“I didn’t even know what he was talking about until I went outside and saw, about four blocks up the hill, a very large plume of black smoke. And then I realized, ‘oh, we’ve got to get out of here!'”
Mr Latt said most people were aware of the need to pack a “grab and go” bag containing important documents such as passports and other essential items. He wanted to make sure he had “all the receipts we needed to file our taxes … and we collected more family photos, albums, art, to get into our two cars.”
After collecting their essentials, he took a moment to film the wildfires from his roof and check the wind direction. When he realized they were blowing in his direction, he knew it was time to go – just minutes after being warned.
With access to and from his area limited to just one road, Mr Latt said they were stuck in traffic for two hours as they tried to escape.
Pacific Palisades borders Malibu and is a haven of hilly streets and winding roads nestled against the Santa Monica Mountains and stretching to beaches along the Pacific Ocean.
Mr. Latt isn’t sure what happened to his home and doesn’t believe he’ll know more for at least one day; extremely strong winds are forecast later Wednesday night and into Thursday that could fan the fire and spark new fires across Los Angeles.
“What we know from experience is that even though firefighters do an outstanding job of putting out fires, some sparks remain … the wind picks them up, carrying embers that can go across the street or a mile away … That’s what worries LA tonight- in,” said Mr. Latt.
The speed with which he saw the firefighting plane in the sky gave him little confidence in the “terrifying situation”, he added.
In the Palisades, firefighters told people to get out of their cars as the fire approached, fanned by wind gusts sometimes reaching 100 mph.
“The fire was right next to the cars,” resident Marsha Horowitz told the BBC.
Famous people were among those who fled.
Schitt’s Creek actor Eugene Levy lives in the area and told local media he was forced to evacuate his home. “The smoke looked pretty black and intense over Temescal Canyon. I couldn’t see any flames, but the smoke was very dark,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
Mr Latt and his wife managed to get to safety, but unease gripped the town’s residents as three wildfires raged on its northern and western edges.
Fanned by strong winds, the fires destroyed homes, blocked roads and forced more than 30,000 people to flee.
With at least 50,000 homes without power, other people in the affected neighborhoods drove until they got a signal to try to make a phone call or connect to the Internet, unsure of what to do.
If they go to sleep, they worry that they won’t know when to evacuate. Many can see the flames from their homes but are not sure if they are close enough to leave.
Many people have children and pets and are not sure where to go.
Journalist Amrita Khalid lives in the coastal city of Santa Monica, which is also being evacuated.
She told the BBC World Service’s Newsday radio program that the day started like any other.
“I can’t stress to you how normal this morning was in Santa Monica. It just seemed like another beautiful winter morning. But then I was walking home from the gym and I just noticed big black clouds of smoke.”
She then decided to leave her home for a safer place and says a photo of her neighborhood they shared with her confirmed her decision to leave.
“It looks like Mars, it looks bright red,” she said. “Well, I’m kind of glad I went. I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
