A California family captured their terrifying escape from the Pacific Palisades region after wildfires forced them to evacuate.
11-year-old Lillian Davies recorded the footage on Jan. 7 of her mother, Julie, driving down Palisades Drive to flee from the wildfires that engulfed the area. In the video, the sky is a dark yellow color with smoke clogging the air. Lillian is heard exclaiming, “We’re literally driving into the fire.”
Later in the video, as the family is still driving past the fires, Julie prayed for her family’s safety and for their community. “Holy Spirit, protect all the house, protect all the people-get everyone out…”
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The family, including Lillian’s 14-year-old sister Kelia, joined “The Faulkner Focus” on Thursday. Julie recounted on the show that when she received the first evacuation alert, they were in the Highlands in the Pacific Palisades.
“We knew we needed to get out fast,” she said.
“We started heading down Palisades Drive, which is the only road out of that area,” Julie added, explaining that the fire was approaching “very fast,” which made her nervous when her car was temporarily caught in traffic near the end of the drive. “At that point it was uncertain how long we were going to be stuck there.”
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Lillian later explained why she started recording video as she and her mother made their escape. “I thought they were clouds, but it was actually smoke,” she said. “And then I saw the flames, and we were like, oh my gosh, there’s the fires right there.”
Kelia, who was not in the car during the video, was asked in the Fox News interview what was left in her local community.
“There are some buildings that are still standing and some of our friends’ homes, but most of it is gone,” she responded.
“And most of all, the things that we love and all the places that we used to go to are all gone. So it’s been really hard. But, you know, we’re still hopeful that, you know, God will come through and just help everyone through this time,” she added.
Many areas of the Los Angeles metropolitan area were affected by the ongoing wildfires besides the Pacific Palisades, including nearby Eaton. Both wildfires in those areas are among the most destructive in state history.
