Kiwi in California escapes wildfire as 'massive cloud of orange' heads for her home

July 30, 2018

Nearly 60 large fires are uncontained across 14 states.

A New Zealander living in the fire-ravaged city of Redding in Northern California says she drove away from her home as a "massive cloud of orange" got closer. 

Karina Paige was among 40,000 people who've been forced to evacuate as swirling wildfires roared through Redding, north of San Francisco.

Twelve-thousand firefighters are battling flames across California which are blamed for six deaths so far, with at least seven people still missing.

The fire continues to rage, taking out whole neighbourhoods.

Ms Paige told 1 NEWS via Skype that her husband was away but her told her to hose the property and roof.

Then the power went off and the fire turned. 

"I'm on my own, the power's off. I'm seeing this massive cloud of orange coming closer to the house," she said. 

"And then the next minute my father-in-law and my brother-in-law, they just basically came and they said 'we can see the fire, it's a quarter of a mile from your house. Get out now'."

Many people no longer have homes to return to, but Ms Paige is one of the lucky ones.

"Just seeing the first neighbour's house, burnt to the ground on the corner. Then I walked around and saw our house was fine, and looked around and another neighbour's house burnt to the ground. Very, very sad," she said.

She described the scene as like Armageddon.

A state of emergency has been declared as forecast high temperatures and strong winds threaten to inflame the crisis. 

And it's not just California affected as massive wildfires continue to burn out of control across the United States.

Nearly 60 large fires are uncontained across 14 states, burning one million acres of land.

But the worst hit is California where eight major blazes are raging out of control.

Between 30 and 40 Kiwi firefighters will be heading over to join the battle in California.

Firefighters are working in extremely challenging conditions - temperatures over 40 degrees, and fierce winds which are sparking "fire tornadoes".

These are towering spirals of fire, fuelled by ambient air, rising quickly into the atmosphere, and sending embers, burning debris, even cars, flying.

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