Resilience in face of danger | People united, helping one another flee by foot and by car as  tree limbs crashed down and howling winds sent flames flying

Agencies PASADENA (California)

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.

Losing home of 30 years

EJ Soto described leaving her childhood Altadena home of 30 years with her mother, two nieces, sister and husband at 3:25 a.m. after staying up overnight and watching the flames creep closer.

"We had already decided, we're not going to sleep," Soto said. She instructed her family to pack their bags with two days of clothing and put them in the car, along with food and supplies for their cat, Callie.

They drove to the Rose Bowl stadium and waited for two hours, then returned to check on their neighborhood. They saw three homes on their block burning - and finally their own, engulfed in flames two stories high.

Samaritans to the rescue

Samson, 48, was in Pacific Palisades at his father-in-law's home caring for him when the time came to flee Tuesday. They had no car, however, and were unable to secure a ride through Uber or by calling 911. Samson flagged down a neighbour, who agreed to e give them and their two bags a lift.

After a little more than half an hour in traffic, the flames closed in. The tops of palm trees burned like giant sparklers in the incessant wind. With vehicles at a standstill, police ordered people to get out and flee on foot.

Samson and his father-in-law left their bags and made their way to the sidewalk. The father-in-law, who is recovering from a medical procedure, steadied himself against a utility pole as Samson retrieved his walker and recorded the ordeal on his cellphone.

"We got it, Dad, we got it," Samson said.

They walked for about 15 minutes before another Samaritan saw them struggling, stopped and told them to get in his vehicle. By Wednesday afternoon, Samson did not know if the home survived. But he said they were indebted to the two strangers.

"They saved us," he said. "They really stepped up."

Aaron Samson who positioned his 83-year-old father-in-law behind his blue walker, "My father-in-law was saying, ‘Aaron, if we are ever in a position where the flames are right there, you just run and leave me here.'"  It didn't get to that point. For the second time in a matter of hours, a Samaritan picked them up, then drove them to safety in Santa Monica.

Another Pacific Palisades resident, Sheriece Wallace, didn't know about the fire until her sister called - just as a helicopter made a water drop over Wallace's house. "I was like, It's raining,'" Wallace said. "She's like, No, it's not raining. Your neighborhood is on fire. You need to get out.'" She opened her door and saw the hillside behind her home was ablaze.

The street below was choked with abandoned cars and boulders that had tumbled down the canyon. She thought she might have to jump into a pool to save herself, but instead walked to a street corner and lucked upon a neighbour who offered her a ride.

"There was no other way for me to get out," Wallace said. "And if it had not been for the grace of God, my neighbour's son coming to get their mother and me going to the corner to just try to flag someone down ..."

Losing family heirlooms and a community

Altadena resident Eddie Aparicio was dumbstruck as he and his partner evacuated Tuesday evening, inching through bumper-to-bumper traffic as nearly hurricane-force winds howled around them. "Limbs were falling everywhere. 

Massive trees were on top of cars," Aparicio said. "Seeing the embers and flames jump off the mountain, skip 30 blocks and land on a house - it's insane." They finally reached the home of his partner's mother.

The next morning a neighbor sent a video showing that his house - like so many others on his block - had burned down. The chimney alone was still standing.

While they lost some family mementos, such as paintings by Aparicio's grandmother and father, the saddest part was the loss of a beloved community. "It makes me feel very existential," Aparicio said. "You never know what's going to happen."