STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Yesterday, an LA Fire spokesperson urged many residents to back their cars into the driveway so they would be parked facing out. Fires were spreading so quickly that the extra seconds would matter in case of an evacuation. Today, we hear some of the 100,000 people who've been told to make that sudden move. They spoke with our colleague, Elise Hu.
ELISE HU, BYLINE: Cheryl Heuton and her husband rushed out of their Pasadena home Tuesday night with only their toothbrushes, laptops and their grown children's old stuffed animals.
CHERYL HEUTON: The air is pretty thick with smoke and ash.
HU: Officials ordered her community to evacuate from the Eaton Fire that ripped through the area. Just one week ago was the Rose Parade in this very neighborhood.
HEUTON: We just finished cleaning up from the Rose Parade, of all things, and now this. We had the big thing that showed off how wonderful life is here, followed immediately by something showing how awful life can be.
HU: With smoke blooms still high overhead, conditions improved enough yesterday for Heuton to check in on her house.
HEUTON: Backyard is a total mess, of course, 'cause everything's been blown all to heck. But so far, so good.
HU: She counts herself among the fortunate ones. Emily Kovner Moss grew up in the Pacific Palisades and still calls it home.
EMILY KOVNER MOSS: Our entire block had been decimated. There's not one structure standing. And it wasn't smoldering. So, basically, the fire came up and just ran through it.
HU: Her fire-ravaged house is where she raised her now college-aged children.
KOVNER MOSS: Every little note that they wrote me when they were little was in there, all their artwork - it's all gone. It's all gone, and it's devastating, and that's the emotional side, and it doesn't even account for the financial side.
HU: Kovner Moss is one of the many fire evacuees who have already lost their homes or businesses. County officials estimate the catastrophic fires, fueled by fast and unpredictable Santa Ana winds, have destroyed more than 1,000 structures and counting. Here's LA County Sheriff Robert Luna at a press conference last night.
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ROBERT LUNA: We have called in additional resources, not only for what's in front of us, but looking around the corner - what's next? The fire - both fire chiefs have made it very clear we are not out of danger. There's a lot of work to be done.
HU: With firefighters unable to contain the fast-moving flames, home and business owners are unable to see the extent of the damage so far. Joshua Preven evacuated from his Pacific Palisades home on Tuesday night but hasn't returned. He's relying on television footage to see if his house is still standing.
JOSHUA PREVEN: You actually could probably see if our house is still there or not better than I can. So I honestly, at this point, will be surprised if it's still there because just when I look at the map, it's completely surrounded by fire, including right down the street.
HU: The skies over Los Angeles have taken on the shade of dirty dishwater. Air quality and the fire risk have gotten so dangerous that the Los Angeles Unified School District - the nation's second-largest - has closed all campuses. Fires have already destroyed two of the district's elementary schools. When might the still-unfolding disaster come to an end? No one can say for certain. Cheryl Heuton.
HEUTON: The fires are moving, houses are still being burned, beloved businesses and landmarks near our house have gone up in flames. It's hard to think of life as normal right now. It's really frightening, and we don't know what's going to happen yet.
HU: The fate of millions of Californians depends on where and how the wind blows.
For NPR News, I'm Elise Hu in Los Angeles. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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