Police video from California fires shows harrowing escapes

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) — Police body-camera footage from last year’s wildfires in Northern California’s wine country shows officers running door-to-door urging people to flee and rescuing elderly residents of a retirement community as flames bear down.

Nearly eight hours of jittery video obtained by the San Jose Mercury News for a story Sunday is from the point-of-view of police in Santa Rosa, as they sprint, panting through swirling smoke amid the approaching firestorm in October.

Exasperated officers implore homeowners wielding garden hoses to evacuate. One officer shouts “what is wrong with you?” at a man shooting video with his cell phone as the fire closes in.

An elderly widow being rescued tells an officer that she’s scared. The officer replies, “I know. This is absolutely terrifying.”

Forty-four people died in the wine country fires.

___

Information from: San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com