A Kiwi woman has had a lucky escape as she fled the California wildfires.
The blazes are wreaking havoc across the state and have chewed through 3.2 million acres of land. So far, 28 people have died.
Kiwi Jody Brettkelly has spent the last 20 years living in the US. She woke up to a red haze around her California home, so decided to flee to her son's house in Oregon, only to find herself in the new epicentre.
"It's unbelievable. You can't really see past, like, five feet outside the window," she said.
"We're inside and your eyes are sort of streaming. Everything is so dry and you can smell the smoke inside which is really scary."
The drive to her son's home was terrifying, she said.
"There were just enormous flames all over right next to the car, all along the side of the road, and we were just really, really panicked because there was no way out."
Families across Oregon were forced to flee, with homes standing one minute and flattened the next.
"It looks so small. How did our big life fit in this little area," resident Lexio Soulios said.
Her home was one of thousands torched to the ground. Many families like hers are left to sift through the pieces of their lives now left in ruins.
"Very uncertain future. Nothing we've had to face in our lifetime," another Oregon resident said.
US President Donald Trump now plans to divert his campaign trail to California to assess the damage.
"Having Trump supposedly in charge - he's not in charge and he doesn't care about any of the states that are Democrats. So that includes Oregon and California," Brettkelly said.
With the fires expected to burn for several more weeks, so too will the uncertainty for thousands of families now without a home.
