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This is a moment that many Californians fear: having seen the smoke of one of the increasingly devastating fires of the state come closer and know that they may soon be forced to leave their homes, perhaps forever .
For the people of Thousand Oaks, in the suburbs of Los Angeles, this moment came at the end of a difficult week: a veteran entered a bar and killed a dozen people during mbad shootings that became more and more common in the country. United States.
READ MORE: This is what we know about the victims of the California shootings
Andrea Campbell Conant, a public relations officer who grew up in Thousand Oaks, said Friday that the roads had begun to close as a precaution, even as she was going to one of the vigils for the victims Wednesday night shootings at Borderline Bar & Grill.
"It's almost as if we do not have enough time to deal with how we feel," she said in a phone interview, describing a vertiginous turnaround from a busy wake up from tears to phone calls from friends and relatives needing help after receiving evacuation orders.
WATCH: the victim's mother says she does not want prayers, she wants "more guns"
Authorities have ordered the evacuation of nearly 75,000 homes near Thousand Oaks as the fire approaches Woolsey Fire, which extends over 14,000 acres (5,700 hectares) . The fire erupted Thursday north-east of the city, about 64 km north of downtown Los Angeles.
Conant's father, Jesse Campbell, was among those who had been ordered to leave his home, just four blocks from the border, where an ex-Marine entered Wednesday night and opened fire before turning to him. even according to the authorities.
"We had to wake up in the middle of the night and leave," said Campbell, a retired chef and party planner, during a phone interview, evoking the evacuation of one. Forest fire.
WATCH: Devastating forest fires in northern California force thousands to flee
He and his wife, who have lived in Thousand Oaks for 34 years, took refuge in a nearby mall before returning home later Friday.
As hell approached in the hours following the attack, Campbell was reminded to have seen people with a white face, wherever he was turning – at the gym, at the gas station , in all the city.
"Many people did not really know what to do," he said.
READ MORE: A journalist smashed by explosions while covering a California wildfire
Heather Wynalda, 47, said her brother and family had lost their homes following the fire, only about a day after her niece and nephew heard screams and shots from the Borderline bar when they went to their mother's house nearby.
"It's catastrophic," she wrote in a message to Reuters. "This community was very well integrated in the middle of yesterday's shoot. And today, he is scattered in a desperate effort to escape the fires. "
WATCH: California fires threaten homes near Los Angeles
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