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FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- The winds are picking up Friday night, prompting caller occurrence concerns conscionable 24 hours aft the Coal Fire successful Coalinga.
New video shows the chaos connected the I-5 Thursday nighttime arsenic flames raced toward Austin Cassidy and Andrea Fekete.
The mates came face-to-face with the Coal Fire arsenic they drove done Coalinga connected their mode from Los Angeles to Sonoma.
"The median was wholly engulfed successful flames," recalled Austin.
The flames were truthful aggravated that the mates felt the heat.
"It's conscionable similar an oven with, like, a instrumentality conscionable blowing towards you. It's conscionable truthful hot, and past the smoke, too."
The beardown winds served arsenic substance for the fire.
"What was moving done my caput was, if 1 ember crosses from the median occurrence to the different side, we're going to beryllium wholly surrounded successful flames," Austin said.
With flames conscionable feet away, the mates feared for their lives.
They joined motorists who rushed to the shoulder, lone to find a barbed ligament fence.
"A fewer radical threw a broad onto the barbed ligament fencing to get implicit it successful the vigor of the moment," Austin explained.
"The workers astatine the cattle ranch really helped them over."
The firefight and the fearfulness went connected for hours,
The country - wholly charred connected Thursday, arsenic we learned it started with a deadly postulation accident.
A wrong-way operator crashed head-on into a van, and past different car.
The California Highway Patrol confirms the clang killed 3 people.
"I consciousness highly atrocious for the families of those victims that aren't going to spot their household members present due to the fact that of this," said Lt. Matt Zulim.
The Coal Fire grew to 90 acres.
On the broadside of the freeway, the mates described a consciousness of community.
Motorists looked retired for each different with decease conscionable feet distant Thursday night,
The mates is present thankful to beryllium alive, safely successful Sonoma.
The probe into the clang that sparked it each could instrumentality months.
For quality updates, travel Gabe Ferris connected Facebook, X and Instagram.
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