Family narrowly escapes raging California wildfire
BAKERSFEILD, Calif. -- In California, nearly 5,000 firefighters are battling at least half a dozen large wildfires. The biggest fire is near Bakersfield -- at the southern tip of the Sierra Nevada.
At least two people have died in the wildfires so far.
Lyndsey Wilson and Ryan Duprie captured their frantic evacuation on camera. They just narrowly escaped the wildfire.
They were among the last to leave their home near Lake Isabella that was ravaged by the so-called "Erskine Fire."
The fire has been out of control since Thursday, fueled by dry brush and unusually strong winds.
The family says in a matter of hours, their neighborhood went up in flames.
Lyndsey said she thought at one point she was going to die.
"I think it hit me the hardest when we got to the smoke wall. And I could see the fire on both sides of the road. I could see nothing in front of me my mom disappeared into it," she said.
She said she saw a telephone pole on fire, and wasn't sure if the cables were going to come down on them.
"And part of you just has to think. Is this it, is this how this is gonna happen, am I gonna be trapped?" she said.
The family just got word their home was saved, but others weren't as lucky.
So far, more than 36,000 acres and at least 150 homes have been destroyed.
Frustrated residents vented to fire officials on Saturday, desperate for word on when they'd be able to return.
"The look of devastation that's on these people's faces, lady sitting over there with oxygen tanks. Everybody's lost every... I've lost everything. All I got is what I got on," said Fred Coleman, one of the frustrated residents.
While some families will be allowed back into their neighborhoods, not everyone will have a home to go back to.
Fire officials recovered remains at a home, possibly another wildfire victim. If confirmed, it's the third life taken by the Erskine fire.
Right next-door to where that body was found, another home looks completely untouched. The fire jumped over it and kept going down the street, which goes to show how random the devastation can be.
