One passenger described the chilling moment ‘the heat inside the aircraft started to rise, and the smoke smell filled the cabin’. Passengers on board a flight that flew over the rapidly spreading Palisades California Fire have described the terrifying moment smoke fumes filled the cabin mid-air.
As they gazed down at the roaring flames below, more than 30,000 residents were being forced to evacuate their homes as the wildfire raged over roughly 3,000 acres at zero percent containment, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Wright also captured the nail-biting moment her flight soared above the flames.
Casualties have since been confirmed as the fire continues to grow, say the LAFD. Describing the tense moment she felt the force of the fires, Wright told Newsweek: “We were making our descent at the time of the photos. Right after taking them, the heat inside the aircraft started to rise, and the smoke smell filled the cabin.”.
“The general mood of the flight got very tense and quiet up until we landed some 20 to 30 minutes afterward”, she added. More than 3,000 acres are ablaze in the Pacific Palisades fire, over 1,000 in the Eaton Fire through Altadena, Pasadena, Arcadia, and Sierra Madre, and flames have stretched across 500 acres in the Hurst Fire in Sylmar, according to LA fire officials.
