California fires killing people before they can escape their homes, making seconds count

“What we’ve seen almost over the last 10 years now is a huge change in the ways fires have been burning throughout California,” said Jon Heggie, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. “They burn with such increased speed and velocity and intensity that it gives residents very little time sometimes to escape fires, just because the fuels are so receptive and burn so much hotter and so much faster.”