As if there weren’t enough smoke in the air, Leo Paguin took a drag from a cigarette and watched his neighbors flee. Officials kept Interstate 15 — a major artery into Southern California — closed for more than a day and ordered an estimated 80,000 people to evacuate. "The way the fires are moving in this drought-stricken state, they are more explosive, and they move much quicker through the dry vegetation. Even the slightest hesitation with deciding whether to evacuate can mean the difference between life and death. On Wednesday afternoon, she had kept to that pledge, even as firefighters fought to protect homes just across the road.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 17, 2016 23:21 UTC