Travellers landing on Wednesday at Vancouver International Airport from Los Angeles said the landscape they left looked like Armageddon.
Wildfires have been whipped into a frenzy across Los Angeles County due to the Santa Ana winds, with five blazes now estimated to be burning.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says the death toll has now risen to five.
Tim Stager and Dawn Marie flew into YVR on Wednesday afternoon. They live in Upland, Calif., in San Bernardino County, bordering Los Angeles County.
“When we drove in there, it was very Armageddon-ish, very dark,” Dawn Marie said.
Husband Tim said the airport is covered in smoke.
“Fires all over,” he said. “When you take off, all the smoke, all the fire, you see all that kind of stuff. It’s very dark.”
Tim said freeways were closed and semi-trucks tipped over due to the strong winds.
He said they have lived there their whole lives and this is the worst they have ever seen.
Ilana Jory was staying in Santa Monica, close to the Pacific Palisades fire.
“The skies were black,” she said. “And you could see the fires from everywhere. There was ash falling all over the airport. And yeah, it was scary and I’m sure traumatic for everyone there.”
They were travelling to B.C. from Australia and had four days of beautiful weather before the skies turned black.
She said their lobby was packed with hundreds of people trying to escape the Palisades.
“The people in the lobby were pretty devastated and scared and worried,” Jory said.
“And yeah, it was pretty. It’s pretty upsetting for them. Yeah. Scary time. And then when you took off from L.A., you could see the fires burning, you know, if you look out the left side of the plane.”