‘Apocalyptic’: Albertans living in California share their stories of escaping hell

Los Angeles may be nearly 2,500 kilometers from Calgary, but for some Albertans the wildfires ravaging Southern California hit much closer to home.

Global News spoke to some Albertans living in the City of Angels.

While the inferno bears similarities to the fire that ravaged the town of Jasper last summer, former Pet Albertans we spoke to say they’ve never lived through anything like it.

Jackson Smith, who lives near Hollywood Boulevard, got a notification on his phone after the fire broke out in the Hollywood Hills just 10 minutes from his apartment, creating some anxious moments for his parents in Calgary.

“He got an alert on the phone, called a friend, ran down the street — it was chaos and with the cars and all the stuff, it was pretty intense,” said his father, Kevin Smith.

“Jackson is fine now. He’s in Laguna. We’re still stressed because what happened in that area is just horrible.

Samina Siddiqui, a student at the University of Calgary, arrived in Los Angeles the night before the first fire broke out to begin her semester at California State University.

So far he remains outside the evacuation zone, but he describes the city as filled with smoke, empty streets and large objects being blown around by relentless winds fueling the fire.

“My apartment is just billowing smoke,” Siddiqat said.

“It’s like an apocalypse here – it’s everywhere, you can’t escape it.”

With the death toll expected to rise, at least six people have been killed, 200,000 homes have been evacuated and thousands of Californians have no home to return to, unlike those who still call Calgary home.

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