Page 5 - Eric Marx News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> if you're not prepared for it, if you're not trained for it, you have no choice but to panic. >> oh, my god. 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 marx was watching...

Of driving through an inferno. to increase your chances, should you, a, open your windows to prevent glass from shattering under high heat, b, keep the windows closed, or c, open the windows slightly, 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 y...

>> what i see is the kids, you know, with the car burning. i was panicking. i was shaking for the whole commotion that was happening, but just to think that i'm going to lose them i was feeling numb, but i got out and ran to them. >> eric and his extended family make it out, but his grandmother's house is totally destroyed along with 60% of middletown's other homes. in the end, several firefighters suffered severe burns and four civilians lost their lives. >> i do think it's a miracle that we survived. it was the scariest thing of my life, and it always will be. nothing can top that. >> to avo...

>> i hope she makes it out. >> 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 just driving. we were driving on what we thought the road was. [ honking ] 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...

♪ >> get in the car! >> 16-year-old eric marx is watching the inferno from his grandmother's house in middletown -- >> go! >> when suddenly the massive inferno is blocking all exits. >> oh, god. >> so what would you do? you're fleeing a burning town when you suddenly find your exit blocked by flames. should you, a, ditch the car and flee on foot, b, drive around and find a structure to hide inside or c, step on the gas and power through? with the flames rising, you may be tempted to step on it. >> a running vehicle itself when it becomes overcome by a large amount of smoke will eventually sh...