Page 15 - Eric Marks News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Middletown, california, a normally quiet community of 1,300 residents, about 70 miles north of san francisco. that all changed on september 12th, 2015, after months of unusually dry heat, an enormous wildfire erupts, sending 200-foot-high flames racing toward the town. >> the trees and the topography and the type of material that was burned had not burned in many, many years, which contributed to the fast rate spread of flame. >> get in the car. >> 16-year-old eric was watching the inferno from his grandmother's house in middletown when suddenly -- >> i saw the fire jump the road so i told eve...

Them with any materials available? >> you shouldn't cover any vehicle with window coverings due to the fact that those are combustible materials and those materials itself will start to catch fire just based on the radiated heat. >> and rolling down your windows will only let the elements in faster. so if you chose b, you made the correct decision. keep those windows closed. >> what you want to do is try to stay encapsulated inside that vehicle as best as you possibly can. it's imperative that you ensure the windows are fully closed and visibility is maintained. it's going to be difficult to s...

>> in the chaos, eric and his brother lose contact with their family. panicked, they decide to stay in their car and try to reach the nearby highway, but it doesn't take long to realize their mistake. >> there was fire hitting the window, embers. you could barely see five feet in front of you even with the headlights. we were driving on what we thought the road was. the entire engine compartment caught on fire, the wheels caught on fire. our feet, we could feel the flames burning the metal and the plastic under the car. we could see the smoke coming up through the holes, the ventilation. it wa...

Window slightly and then cover them with any materials available. >> you shouldn't cover any vehicle with window coverings due to the fact that those are combustible materials and those materials itself will start to catch fire just based on the radiated heat. >> and rolling down your windows will only let the elements in faster. so if you chose b, you made the correct decision. keep those windows closed. >> what you want to do is try to stay encapsulated inside that vehicle as best as you possibly can. it's imperative that you ensure the windows are fully closed and visibility is going to be ...

>> in the chaos, eric and his brother lose contact with their family. panicked, they decide to stay in their car and try to reach the nearby highway, but it doesn't take long to realize their mistake. >> there was fire hitting the window, embers. you could barely see five feet in front of you even with the headlights. we were driving on what we thought the road was. the entire engine compartment caught on fire, the wheels caught on fire. our feet, we could feel the flames burning the metal and the plastic under the car. we could see the smoke coming up through the holes, the ventilation. it wa...