VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) -- More than 100 people were forced to evacuate their homes in a Vista neighborhood Sunday morning after trees in Brengle Terrace Park ignited, sending flames feet from apartments on Meadow Lake Drive in Vista.
The fire erupted just after 7 a.m. 1200 block of Vale Terrace Drive and led to an evacuation order and warning for two zones.
Residents said they had very little time to grab their loved ones and get out.
Debbie Davson, who has lived in the neighborhood next to Brengle Terrace Park for 21 years, said she and her husband were first alerted by what they thought was a storm.
"We thought that the storm had [come] in, so my husband went outside to go check on it, and that's when he saw the fire and just started yelling, ‘Fire!’ We ran outside to get everybody else out," Davson said.
Davson took video from her apartment before evacuating.
"We saw everything. It was literally about 10 feet away from our backyard, so we saw it all. It was a huge blaze … and it moved very quickly from about mid apartment over to this way," Davson said.
Her neighbor, Summer Skorheim, woke up to someone banging on her door.
"I got up and they stopped and I went and opened the back as I usually do the slider glass slider, and it was right behind my apartment and I grabbed my dog and grabbed my purse and my jacket and came out here," Skorheim said.
Jeff Lehman, who captured cell phone video of the flames lighting up palm trees and eucalyptus in the park, said he arrived at the park this morning to play pickleball.
"I came out this morning to play pickleball as I regularly do, and we were just about to start a game about 7:10 this morning. And one of my friends said there's a fire, and over here in the creek bed there was smoke and fire coming up from the creek bed," Lehman said.
Several crews from across the county responded to help battle the Brengle fire, shooting foam and water in all directions to get the fire under control. Oceanside, San Marcos, North County Fire Protection District, and Cal Fire joined Vista Fire Rescue in the fight.
All evacuation orders were lifted by 10 a.m. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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