Ex-SA woman’s LA fire drama

ANIMALS‚ laptops‚ rollerskates‚ a few books and some sentimental items are some of the things a former Durban resident took when she was forced to evacuate her Los Angeles home as fires raged round her.

Hundreds of thousands of LA residents had to flee their homes when wildfires spread‚ closing freeways and destroying homes.

According to the Los Angeles Times‚ fires broke out in the foothills of the Angeles National Forest in the early hours of Tuesday.

The blaze grew so rapidly that Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti declared a state of emergency, with 110 000 to 150 000 people forced from their homes. Suzy Bell‚ a former journalist who lives on a smallholding in northern Los Angeles‚ said they had moved three times in 24 hours because of the fires.

She said on Facebook: “These fires are terrifying and it keeps spreading as they can’t contain it. We are thankful and safe as we evacuated early instead of last minute when there was a terrible panic.

“So many people still evacuating; some trying to save their homes and horses on neighbouring ranches and farms.”

Bell wrote that she had grabbed family photos but left all the art on the wall‚ and that it had suddenly seemed absurd to pack clothes that held no meaning.

“It was so dramatic evacuating, my first experience of this‚” Bell said.