Flames were practically on top of Dick and Joan Marsala's home when they got an urgent knock on the door and were told to leave.
The couple, in their mid-80s, grabbed only a change of clothes and medications before fleeing through wind gusts and smoke as fire swallowed the row of mobile homes behind their place in the Rancho Monserate Country Club north of San Diego.
It's a story that has played out in communities across much of Southern California this week as ferocious winds whipped sparks into massive infernos that have killed one person, destroyed nearly 700 homes and buildings, killed dozens of horses and forced hundreds of thousands of people to run from fires that have burned more than 673 square kilometres since Monday.
On Friday, the first fire-related death was confirmed by the Ventura County medical examiner's office.
Virignia Pesola, 70, of Santa Paula, was found dead along an evacuation route near a fire northwest of Los Angeles.
Her death was caused by crash injuries, smoke inhalation and burns, the medical examiner's office said in a statement.
The flames that tore through Fallbrook - self-proclaimed Avocado Capital of the World, and nearby Bonsall - travelled so far that even people who found temporary refuge had to move again when the fires got too close.
Flames sprang up so quickly and moved so fast that three people were burned trying to escape. Many of those who managed to get out unscathed did so with only the clothes on their backs after abandoning a lifetime of possessions to fate.
The Marsalas and other unlucky homeowners returned to find their homes in ruins.
The charred grey remains of much of the 55-and-over community stood in stark contrast to the bright green nine-hole golf course where Marsala and others in the community played regularly.
More than a third of the community's 213 mobile homes burned as the fire zigzagged along a hillside, skipping some streets and razing others. On one street, all 24 mobile homes were gone, with only hulls of cars and stoves left.
The fire 80km north of San Diego ignited for unknown reasons and destroyed at least 105 structures as it burned16 square kilometres.
Meanwhile, firefighters northwest of Los Angeles gained some control over the largest and most destructive fire in the state, which destroyed 476 homes and buildings. The blaze in Ventura County grew to 533 square kilometres since igniting.
Along the coast between Ventura and Santa Barbara, tiny communities had so far survived close calls. Slopes along US 101 were blackened, but homes still stood at La Conchita and Faria Beach. Sections of Carpinteria were under mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders, but no flames were in sight.
Fire crews made enough progress against other large fires around LA to lift most evacuation orders.
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