'Like a warzone,' Los Angeles wildfire survivors relive night of fear and panic

By Joe Brock and Matt McKnight

PASADENA, California (Reuters) - When gas canisters at his neighbors' homes began exploding under the heat of the flames, Kevin Williams knew it was time to run.

"The wind whipped up, the flames were up about 30 or 40 feet (9 to 12 meters) high, and you hear 'pop, pop, pop'. It sounded like a warzone," Williams told Reuters at an evacuation center in Pasadena.

At least two people were killed as several fast-growing wildfires raged out of control on Wednesday near Los Angeles, destroying hundreds of buildings, scorching hillsides and prompting some 70,000 people to evacuate their homes.

The biggest blaze has consumed more than 11,800 acres (4,775 hectares) in the Pacific Palisades, a wealthy neighborhood in west Los Angeles.

Another fire started in Eaton Canyon in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains north of Los Angeles. It has since spread to 10,600 acres (4,290 hectares), shocking residents like Williams who lives in the sleepy suburb of Altadena.

"I told my family, we don't have to worry about this ... there's no way in the world that the fire is going to get down here. Ha! It did," said Williams, who fled with his wife, son and two dogs as homes around them burst into flames.

"There were two big explosions that actually shifted the ground, and so I knew it was time to get out. You know, there's a time to be brave, and there is a time to use some common sense."

Hundreds of people who escaped in the dead of night were hunkered down at the Pasadena Convention Center, some sleeping under Red Cross blankets, others nursing wounds in wheelchairs as volunteers handed out water and bananas.

NEVER BEFORE

Residents told Reuters they had witnessed many fires break out in the dry, dusty hills outside Los Angeles before, but were left aghast as they watched urban homes set ablaze by the fiery embers whisked through suburbs by howling winds.

"We've had fires over the years but not something like this," said Frances Colella, a 71-year-old retiree, resting in a wheelchair alongside dozens of others.

Colella fled with her husband and their three dogs to their 104-year-old mother's house in the neighboring suburb of La Canada Flintridge, only to find the fire had followed them, forcing a second evacuation into Pasadena.

"It's a really sad occurrence and I can't remember anything like this," she said.

Residents described emotions of fear, relief and uncertainty, not sure if their houses will be standing when they are able to return as fires continue to spread across swathes of Los Angeles County.

Thomas Hutchinson, who lives in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, said the last thing he remembers was seeing smoke in his house before receiving an alert on his phone from the emergency services to evacuate.

Hutchinson, 66 and disabled, called 911 but was told no one could help him. In a stroke of fortune, an ambulance passed by his road and whisked him to safety. As Hutchinson watched houses burning around him, the retiree's only concern was saving Rusty, his unflappable brown dog.

"I would have stayed up there if they wouldn't let me take him ... I don't go anywhere without him," Hutchinson said.

"I call him Rusty the wonder dog."

(Reporting by Joe Brock and Matt McKnight; Editing by Mary Milliken and Sandra Maler)