When the Airport Fire spread into Riverside County, Dean James and his friend, Jackie Hunter, tried to escape the flames moving closer toward their home in Lake Elsinore. They had their car all packed and ready to go. Then, it wouldn’t start.
Hunter panicked and ran off as she feared for her life. James later saw her surrounded by smoke and flames in the massive wildfire, which has now burned more than 23,000 acres and destroyed 82 homes as firefighting crews work around the clock.
“She was walking through hell, and I was at the gate looking and I couldn’t see her,” James said.
Video shows her walking just feet away from bright red, roaring flames as embers fly around on the ground below her. A patrol vehicle with flashing lights pulls up just as some towering flames in the background grow taller, winds sweeping them upwards.
Cal Fire Riverside Battalion Chief Mark Martinez tried to reassure her as she got in.