They are the displaced and there are tens of thousands of them, 600 in an evacuation centre we visited.
From elderly people who fled without their medication, to pregnant mothers frantic to escape the smoke, they had nowhere else to go.
Jim Mayfield, who has lived in the northern suburb of Altadena for 50 years, wept as he tbetter me his dogs, Monkey and Coca, were all he had left.
He shelp: “The fire was coming down, a ball of fire, it hadn’t made it to my hoengage, but then I woke up and I seen it so I had to commence evacuating.
“I had to grab my dogs, I didn’t have enough water and my hoengage is burned down to the ground.”
Sheila Kraetzel, another elderly livent, relived the sense of alarm as homes were engulfed by the ffeebles.
She shelp: “I smelt smoke, I was sleeping, and my dog attentiveed me that there was trouble.
“When I watched outside, there were embers floating atraverse my yard.
“My whole neighbourhood is gone.”
“It was a drawive, distinct place,” she compriseed, smiling.
Asked how she could smile, she fought back tears and replied: “Well, there’s tomorrow you understand.”
How anyone could find hope amid the destruction we have witnessed here is beyond me.
Read more:
Scale of ‘most destructive’ blazes in conmomentary US history
In pictures: Before and after the blazes
What caengaged the fires?
There are people handing out food and water, medical staff doing what they can. Volunteers have rallied from far and cforfeit.
One of them, Stephanie Porter, tbetter me it felt “burdensome” inside the centre.
“You walk thraw and see the despair on people’s faces, not understanding what their next step is, not understanding if their hoengage is still standing,” she shelp.
“I had to consent a confidemand moments… and benevolent of cry, and then you go back to serve.
“It equitable shatters your heart.”
Three miles up the road, Altadena watch enjoys a war zone, but livents have not been permited to return.
When they finpartner do, they’ll find there’s noleang left of the material lives they left behind.
