!['Hellish' scene unfolds as wildfire races toward California mountain community](https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/get/maximage/20240911_1726040966-81.jpeg?1726040966)
'Hellish' scene unfolds as wildfire races toward California mountain community
The Peninsula
Trabuco Canyon, Calif.: Alex Luna, a 20 year old missionary, saw the sky turn from a cherry red to black in about 90 minutes as an explosive wildfire...
Trabuco Canyon, Calif.: Alex Luna, a 20-year-old missionary, saw the sky turn from a cherry red to black in about 90 minutes as an explosive wildfire raced toward the Southern California mountain community of Wrightwood and authorities implored residents to leave their belongings behind and get out of town.
"It was very, I would say, hellish-like,” Luna said Tuesday night. "It was very just dark. Not a good place to be at that moment. ... Ash was falling from the sky like if it was snowing.”
Luna was among those who heeded the evacuation order that was issued for the community of about 4,500 in the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles. The Bridge Fire is one of three major wildfires burning in Southern California and endangering tens of thousands of homes and other structures.
The fires sprung to life during a triple-digit heat wave that finally broke Wednesday. The cooler temperatures brought the prospect of firefighters finally making headway against the flames.
Other major fires were burning across the West, including in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada, where about 20,000 people had to flee a blaze outside Reno.