As wildfires continue burning around Los Angeles, people living in the area who have Connecticut ties say they’re surprised by how destructive the fires have been.
“This is what we've packed - you know, some tissues and some clothes, my computers, iPads,” Cherylann Bellows said.
Bellows is originally from North Haven and now lives in Santa Clarita, California, which is north of Los Angeles. She’s under an evacuation warning from the nearby Hurst Fire, which has already burned hundreds of acres.
“It does smell outside, and the wind is really, really, really crazy,” she said.
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It’s one of the destructive fires around Los Angeles. Bellows said seeing images of the fires is unsettling.
“It's kind of scary because you never know where it's going to start now, where the embers are going to flow,” she said.
Raleigh Doscher, who’s originally from Hartford but now lives in the west side of Los Angeles, said she’s not far from the evacuation areas for the Palisades Fire. She said the rapid growth of the fire was stunning.
California wildfires
“The wind's picking up any of these embers that can spread anywhere in this dry, dry climate,” Doscher said.
She said wildfires aren’t uncommon in southern California, but she hasn’t seen winds this powerful.
“These Santa Ana winds are absolutely insane, like hurricane-grade winds. And that's not something we see that frequently over here,” she said.
As firefighters continue to do what they can to contain these wildfires, Doscher is helping friends who had to evacuate, uncertain about what comes next.
“My friends are homeless at the moment and maybe for the long term, who knows when they can go home,” she said.