NEWSCNN Camera Crew Narrowly Escapes Los Angeles Wildfire in Shocking Footage: 'The Most Terrifying Exit That We've Made'
A CNN camera crew was caught up in the Los Angeles wildfire.
A CNN camera crew narrowly escaped the wildfire tearing through Los Angeles amid a sustained and violent windstorm on Tuesday, January 7.
L.A. residents fleeing the area caused gridlock traffic to become so severe that many were forced to abandon their cars on Sunset Boulevard near the Palisades fire.
The camera crew could hear explosions as the fire raged.
CNN's Laura Coates played footage obtained by crew members, including the network's Los Angeles Correspondent Natasha Chen, as they made their way out of a smoke-filled wildfire engulfing Santa Monica.
"Holy f---," a crew member could be heard behind the camera, documenting a rain of burning embers carried in the 100 mph winds.
In an interview after her crew escaped the blaze, Chen said they followed an emergency vehicle out of the area, calling it "the most terrifying exit that we've made from any assignment in a long time."
"We were there from about noon until just after 6 p.m. local time when we had just finished our last live shot," Chen recounted to CNN's Rosemary Church. "What we hadn't quite surmised was exactly how bad it had gotten south of us on the Pacific Coast Highway. We had heard reports that the flames jumped the highway, but we hadn't seen with our own eyes just what that meant."
As they drove south, the flames and destruction became far worse than they were prepared for.
"Pretty quickly, we realized there were flames on both sides of the highway. Embers were flying over the road. I spotted an emergency vehicle and decided our best bet was to follow that car as closely as possible. If he's driving, then he probably knows the best way out," Chen told the network.
What followed was a harrowing ride through chaos captured on video from inside their vehicle, showing flames and dancing embers all around.
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The CNN crew called the escape 'terrifying.'
"I'm hearing an explosion on my right, houses on fire right up against the road on the left," Chen described. "I'm holding my breath, feeling the heat from inside the car as I watch the embers fly across the windshield. It was not ideal."
"We felt a concussion while driving past the homes on fire — an explosion that felt like it hit the car, but it was just the wavelengths of energy that hit us," said CNN producer Kat Jaeger, who was with Chen during the escape. "There was no damage to our car. I've never felt anything like it."
CNN photojournalist Tom Larson claimed it felt like what he had encountered in "war zones."
Tens of thousands were forced to evacuate their homes.
According to Cal Fire, California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency as the fires have burned more than 3,000 acres and has zero containment as of Wednesday morning.
So far, tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes as the fire department attempts to contain the blaze.
