As wildfires scorch L.A neighborhoods, evacuees describe harrowing escapes

Some residents were able to flee on foot, while others got away with the assistance of strangers.

Flames and pillars of smoke rose from both sides of the road and a woman yelled in panic as firefighters ushered a crowd of fleeing residents along. Aaron Samson positioned his 83-year-old father-in-law behind his blue walker, and they began shuffling down the sidewalk.

“My father-in-law was saying, ‘Aaron, if we are ever in a position where the flames are right there, you just run and leave me here,'” Samson recounted Wednesday.

It didn’t get to that point. For the second time in a matter of hours, a good Samaritan picked them up, then drove them to safety in Santa Monica.

Their escape came as thousands of people fled wildfires in the Los Angeles area that turned picturesque neighborhoods into smoldering wasteland, with chimneys or wrought-iron staircases about all that remained of homes. Driven by powerful Santa Ana winds, the flames obliterated more than 1,000 structures, scorched landmarks made famous by Hollywood and killed at least five people. One of the fires was the most destructive in the modern history of the city of LA.

The escapes were perhaps the most harrowing from a disaster that Los Angeles has ever seen. People abandoned their cars and fled on foot as tree limbs crashed down and howling winds sent flames flying in every direction. Others flagged down rides from friends or strangers. With so many cars abandoned in the middle of Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades, authorities had a bulldozer push the vehicles out of the way to clear a path for emergency vehicles.

Hard-hit Altadena produced one of the most heart-wrenching scenes: As flames closed in, about 100 elderly residents at senior care facilities were hurried out in hospital beds and wheelchairs. Many were wearing flimsy bedclothes in the chilly night air as they were wheeled to a parking lot about a block away. As wind-whipped embers swirled around them in the smoky air, they waited for help to arrive. Eventually all were taken to a shelter.

More evacuations were ordered late Wednesday after a new fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills.