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Witness accounts from the night evoke a sense of visceral chaos. Families described the transition from a typical evening to a desperate evacuation in a matter of minutes. The air, initially tinged with the scent of distant woodsmoke, quickly thickened into a suffocating shroud of black ash. Sirens became a constant, rhythmic backdrop to the sound of exploding transformers and the roar of a fire that witnesses likened to the sound of a freight train. Many residents reported having only enough time to grab essential documents or a pet before fleeing through streets where the visibility had been reduced to almost zero. The heat was so intense that it warped the siding on homes that were not even in the direct path of the flames, serving as a reminder of the raw energy being unleashed on the community.
