The Valley Fire in Lake Napa Counties, which by all accounts moved at record-setting speed into and through the community of Middletown between Saturday and Sunday, grew from 40,000 acres Sunday to 61,000 acres today. Though thousands of people were told to evacuate, the approach of this fire caught many people off-guard, and one man recorded the dramatic videos above and below of his escape out of Anderson Springs at 8:30 p.m. Saturday.

Such videos are pretty rare given that civilians are usually evacuated well ahead of the scary conditions you see here, with smoke and flames on both sides of the road and smoldering trees. But evacuation orders and plans could not be established fast enough in many cases.

Sheriff Brian Martin has already called the fire, which is only 5 percent contained, "the worst tragedy Lake County has ever seen." One civilian reportedly died in the blaze Sunday, according to the Chronicle and LA Times, but that is still unconfirmed.

The LA Times also captured this video interviewing several residents who tried to weather the fire storm describing what they saw and heard.