'It's really horrific': Former Ottawa residents in LA evacuated due to fires

Feeling the power of the Santa Ana winds and seeing the massive plumes of smoke off her deck in Topanga Canyon earlier this week, Catherine McClenahan knew it was time to go.

"One of the times I was out there was a gust of wind, it must have been about 80 miles an hour," she said. "It was so terrifying and that's the moment I said 'I'm out of here. I'm not going to stay here alone.'"

The former Ottawa resident, an actor, singer and writer living in Los Angeles, left before evacuation orders were in place.

"Watching the devastation, not only in Palisades, but in Topanga…I have so many friends whose houses have burnt down. It's very surreal."

Ottawa-born producer Trevor Matthews also left his home in the Brentwood neighbourhood, just days after his movie "The Brutalist" won best picture at the Golden Globes.

"With the level of the winds and everything that was kind of going on and just the scale of the fire, we got ahead of it and we got out a little sooner this time," Matthews said. "With all the smoke in the area and everything and just to kind of be safe we're down here for at least another night or so."

His friends' homes in the Palisades area are among those that have been destroyed.

"It's really horrific. There's no other way to say it," he said. "My heart goes out to the whole community."

Former Ottawa resident and filmmaker Bryan Michael Stoller lives in Studio City.

He says it smells like everyone has fireplaces going and they need to wear masks.

"Never had winds this bad. My skylight to the roof of my house was actually torn off and ended up in a neighbour's yard," he said. "A lot of trees were down and we lost power. I lost power for about two days and the same thing is happening but only worse where the fires are raging."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he's directed officials to send every available water bomber to fight the fires in California.

The Ottawa Fire Service says it too is getting organized to ensure firefighters are ready to go if they get a call for help.