MIDDLETOWN (KRON) — Middletown is one of three communities that went up in flames because of the explosive Valley Fire that has charred 70,000 acres and destroyed 600 homes.
KRON4’s Will Tran spoke with firefighters in Middletown Wednesday morning who were on the scene Saturday when the wildfire erupted.
“There were houses exploding into flames everywhere, like trees torching in a wildfire,” said Jeff with Cal Fire.
Firefighters from all over California have come to the front lines of the massive Valley Fire.
“There were propane tanks exploding, you could feel them in the ground even across town,” Jeff said.
According to Jeff, ammunition in people’s homes were also going on, hundreds and thousands at a time.
“Everybody had to duck behind the firetrucks and try to stay out of the way of all of the other things in addition to the flames themselves,” Jeff said.
The propane tanks and ammunition exploding added to the danger which was already extremely high.
“Houses only take 30 to 40 minutes to burn completely down, so it happened a lot and it happened quickly,” Jeff said.
Four firefighters were injured on Saturday. They suffered from second-degree burns.