Sara Noah, who lives near the western edge of the Tahoe National Forest, explained how she scrambled for a phone, medication and her Bible when her family had to evacuate their home (not pictured) in the middle of the night.
The 55 year old teacher from Grass Valley near Sacramento explained: "We had to get out really quickly. We were driving to the evacuation centre.
"As we were driving along, there were three or four homes right on the road which were completely engulfed in flames. That was very, very scary."
Mrs Noah, her husband John (58), their daughter, son-in-law, two grandchildren and a dog were evacuated to a nearby Baptist Church - staffed by Red Cross workers - at 1.30am on Monday. They have since able been to return home.
The death toll from the blazes has risen to 17, while more than 180 people have been injured and in excess of 2,000 properties have been destroyed.
Mrs Noah said: "The biggest prayer [request] would be that people could come together as a community. I think this a great opportunity for the Church to come forward and offer physical helps, and spiritual help too."
She described how flames have been jumping across roads and speculated that the fire in her neighbourhood could have been started when strong winds brought down a transformer.
Explaining why she took her Bible with her during the evacuation, Mrs Noah said: "To have God's word as something that I can cling to if I need it, that's something I just didn't think about. It's right by my bed and I grabbed it because I thought we would need it."
Click here to listen to Premier's Alex Williams speaking with Sara Noah in California: