LA residents recall harrowing escape from wildfires as homes, businesses go up in flames: 'Like a war zone'

It's hard not to think it's unrelated to what's happening on the planet,

said Sansing, 54

This has been a shock that is still sinking in. But we're in survival mode, so we're just grabbing certain necessities and getting out,

said Stevens-Shippen

You got the ashes to worry about in your lungs. You got your life to worry about with these 80- to 100-mile an hour gusts,

Sarahlee Stevens-Shippen told AFP

I think our house is gone. I've tried calling home, and I've tried a couple of neighbors. It's just not ringing,

sighed the 76-year-old

This time was different -- the fire just came down the hill so fast because of the wind,

she said

I can't believe LA is surrounded" by wildfires

she said

When I saw the glow of the fire coming over the mountain yesterday about eight o'clock, I took off,

she said

This is a dynamic and dangerous fire that is continuing to grow. We do have many structures damaged and destroyed but we are not able to quantify that at this time,

Stewart also said

Luckily, the police took down groups of cars with an escort after the other cars had been bulldozed, so we were able to drive through the congestion point, which looked like a war zone,

Robertson said

We were scared to stay, and we were scared to leave,

Cosentino told Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino on Wednesday

All of our landmarks, our schools, our grocery store, our churches, everything on the way down to PCH was on fire around us, so it was really hard to see that, and then and then drive away,

he continued

We need to be able to fly our aircraft. Our helicopters cannot fly under this wind condition. They are continually evaluating it. Unfortunately the winds are not forecasted to lessen over the next hours,

she continued

Everyone I know... has been evacuated, and I would say half of them have lost their homes,

she continued

We are in extreme wind conditions. We have winds sustained and gusting over 80 mph, which is hurricane force. It is not possible to stop a fire that is wind-driven like this, with this kind of topography, from the ground,

she said