Dr Jayshree Vyas and her daughter had to run for their lives as the fire raced to their hill-top mansion in Yorba Linda within minutes after they saw it at the bottom of the hill.
"They wanted to take a computer and a few other things but they had no chance," said Jayshree Vyas' husband, Dr Mahesh Vyas.
Flames as high as 15 feet lapped the concrete patio at the back of their house, Dr Mahesh Vyas said.
However, the fire retardant sprayed earlier on their property and the efforts of the firefighters prevented the fire from entering the house. Destroyed landscaping and palm trees, and some cracked glass windows were the only damage their property sustained.
Some of Vyas' neighbours in the 'Hidden Hills' community of multi-million-dollar homes were not so fortunate. "We counted nine houses completely destroyed on our street when we returned home Monday morning," he said.
Image: A DC-10 firefighting jet drops fire retardant on the northern flank of a wildfire threatening thousands of homes near Diamond Bar and Chino Hills, California.
Photographs: David McNew/Getty Images
Advertisement
