ROCHESTER, N.Y. – As wildfires continue to rage in California, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate, including a Rochester native who now lives in Hollywood. Kate Yerves shared her experience.

“I go to the front door and look out and it was a huge plum of red smoke. And I was just like, alright, we got to get out of here,” said Kate Yerves.

Yerves grabbed her dog, threw her important belongings in a bag, and jumped in her car, when she received evacuation alerts from the city and her building management.

“It was bumper-to-bumper traffic and I was kind of panicking because I saw the Palisades people where they couldn’t get out and they had to leave their cars and they were getting bulldozed,” Yerves said.

Thankfully, she made it safely to the Mid-Wilshire area and stayed in a hotel overnight.

“It was really scary because as soon as the news alerted it I would say within two minutes, I heard choppers sirens,” Yerves said. “It was like a movie. It was apocalyptic. It was like I’m getting out of here that’s it. I’m not going to take the chance.”

Erika Duncan, the cousin of News10NBC reporter Marsha Augustin, is also in California. She is not in the evacuation zone but was impacted by the smoke.

“It feels like we’re in a bad movie. It feels like it’s just some movie we’re watching that’s just all fake images everywhere,” Duncan said.

One of Duncan’s concerns is the poor air quality that the wildfires are bringing. She stood in line for close to two hours to get an air purifier.

“Still, stuff comes in through the vents and place towels by the bottom of our window. In the kids’ room, you can smell the smoke coming through the windows and it was shut,” Duncan said.

In addition to the evacuations, many residents are also dealing with the health hazards associated with poor air quality from the wildfires. Battalion Chief Jerad Guhl with the Henrietta Fire Department explained the health hazards of poor air quality from these wildfires.

“It’s material that’s not burned. It can be little tiny particles that float across the atmosphere and they can really affect somebody with underlying health conditions or pre-existing health conditions such as asthma or any type of respiratory disease,” Guhl said.

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