‘We barely made it out’: Californians desperately flee their homes amid raging wildfires

By Karina Tsui, CNN

(CNN) — Terrie Morin, 60, and her husband, Dave, were at the barber shop when they heard about a raging wildfire making headway toward their Camarillo home on Wednesday morning.

The couple were hosting two guests at the time, but because their guests worked late, Morin suspected they slept through the residence’s fire alarms.

“I run in the house, and I’m banging on the door, and they did not hear me. They were knocked out,” Morin told CNN. “Get the dog. Get out of here. You don’t have time, just get out!” she recalled telling them.

Ten minutes later, Dave noticed sparks in their backyard. The temperature was also picking up.

“It was hot. It was so hot,” Morin recalled.

Dozens of homes in California’s Ventura County were set alight in a sweeping wildfire that burned through thousands of acres of land in just a matter of hours midweek –– prompting authorities to send more than 14,000 evacuation notices across the region.

The Mountain Fire began early Wednesday and was driven by winds gusting over 60 mph. The flames have seared through more than 20,485 acres of land, according to Cal Fire.

The families who evacuated at a moment’s notice, some who say they have now lost their homes, must deal with other losses that can also be devastating, from daily essentials like medications and shoes to meaningful possessions such as sculptures and artwork, to treasured keepsakes from the birth of a child or the life of a parent.

At least 132 properties have been destroyed by the fire, while 88 have been left damaged, Ventura County Fire Department officials said Thursday evening. Ten damage inspection teams have been deployed to inspect structures along the path of the blaze.

Ten people endured non-life-threatening injuries from the Mountain Fire, which are mostly related to smoke inhalation, Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said.

Making a run for it

By the time Morin, her husband and their friends got out of the house, the fire had caught on to the surrounding trees. Smoke was everywhere, she told CNN.

In a panic, the California native grabbed her husband’s diabetes medication, her laptop, and some dresses, but she couldn’t get hold of everything she wanted in time –– including clothes and other memorabilia from when her son was a baby.

The four adults made their escape through clouds of thick smoke.

“We couldn’t see anything. We were basically driving just in the smoke. (Dave) was freaking out. And I was telling him, ‘Dave, pull over. Let me take the wheel. I’m OK. Pull over,’” Morin said.

Fire officials implored most residents to evacuate, but some stayed

According to the sheriff’s office, a total of 400 homes were evacuated by officials, while 800 homes that were door-knocked appeared to have already been evacuated; 250 residents chose to stay, Fryhoff said.

“We see it over and over and over: People have the best intentions to stay and defend their home right up until the time the fire hits their home,” Ventura County Fire Chief Dustin Gardner said.

“And it gets hot, and it gets smoky. You can’t see, you can’t breathe, and you sure as hell can’t defend your home. And then you’re stuck, and then our firefighters have to get in, pull you out.”

Some, with fireproofing in the structures of their homes, were exceptions. Steven Snyder was one of them.

Synder, a resident of Camarillo, went to bed on Wednesday as the Mountain Fire raged around his fireproofed home.

“When I looked out the window it looked like little campfires that were sparking up,” Snyder told CNN, adding that he watched the fire come over the hill in his direction.

When Snyder woke up on Thursday, the land around him was charred. Many of his neighbors’ homes were on fire.

Fire personnel in the area urged Snyder, his wife, daughter, and 7-week-old granddaughter to stay home. The family had lost power but had plenty of water and food –– which they shared with fire personnel.

Firefighters have been working aggressively to gain control of the Mountain Fire by dropping water from helicopters. The fire, which was at 0% containment for over 24 hours is now at 5% containment, according to Cal Fire.

The worst of the winds, which prompted the fire to spread more quickly on Wednesday through Thursday morning, were gusting at 30 mph to 40 mph, according to a CNN weather analysis. Winds have been steadily decreasing throughout Thursday afternoon, and conditions are set to improve with humidity increasing through the weekend.

Winds will blow at 5 mph to 10 mph Friday –– a huge improvement from the gusts of 60 mph earlier this week.

Red flag warnings have expired for the Los Angeles area and will expire for the Los Angeles and Ventura County Mountains by Friday at 11 a.m. PST.

The cause remains unknown

Though reasons for the Mountain Fire’s rapid spread are clear, its cause remains unknown, a Ventura County fire official said Thursday morning.

The county fire department’s investigation unit is working on several things, including determining whether power lines were involved in causing the fire, Johnson said when asked about power lines as a possible cause.

“I could tell you that there could be a million things that start a fire,” Johnson said. “When a fire like that breaks, we don’t initially go to ‘What started this?’ Our job is to bring stabilization, so we went immediately to work in that regard.”

Other devastating wildfires have previously been blamed on fallen power lines that remained energized, prompting power companies to plan for broad shutoffs before that can happen again.

As a precaution, Southern California Edison, Southern California’s main electric provider, cut off power intentionally overnight Wednesday to 69,931 customers – including 23,603 in Ventura County – as part of its Public Safety Power Shutoff plan.

Fall marks a critical inflection point for California’s fire season.

The combination of very windy and very dry conditions primes the landscape, turning it into tinder-dry fuel that can easily catch fire with the smallest spark and then spread rapidly in high winds.

As the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution, scenarios like the Mountain Fire could play out more frequently.

The number of extreme fall fire-weather days in California has more than doubled since the early 1980s because of warmer and drier autumns as global temperatures rise, CNN previously reported.

CNN’s Taylor Romine, Rebekah Riess, Mary Gilbert, and Robert Shackelford contributed to this report.

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