Apocalyptic inferno consumes LA

People united, helping one another flee by foot and by car as tree limbs crashed down

- Agencies

As the fierce wildfires, driven by powerful Santa Ana winds, raged through Los Angeles destroying homes, residents fled from burning homes through flames and towering clouds of smoke. At least five fires are currently active across Los Angeles with thousands of firefighters battling separate blazes. California fire chief David Acuna told the BBC there had been "zero progress" in containing the fires because of high winds and dry conditions. "The wind has been blowing consistently at 95-160km/h since Wednesday morning," Acuna said. "It actually blew harder last night."

The blaze has spared neither the prince or the pauper. People united helping one another flee by foot, by car or by grace of strangers. Some have shared their harrowing experience, weaving a saga of resilience and courage.

The escapes were, perhaps, the most harrowing from the worst 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.

Elderly rescued from care facilities 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. Hundreds of evacuees wound up at the Pasadena Convention Centre, many of them older residents of assisted living facilities. They sat from wheelchair to wheelchair or lay on green cots, and some family members tearfully reunited there as ash rained outside.