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Duxbury native living in CA describes wildfire devastation

Several out of control wildfires continue to tear through Southern California.

More than 96,000 acres have now been scorched and many areas are under mandatory evacuation orders, affecting nearly 200,000 people, including a Duxbury family that are transplants to Ventura, California.

The Francke family is safe after they were evacuated Tuesday morning as the fire raced toward their home. They say the devastation in their community is unimaginable.

MORE: Terrifying footage shows California drivers commuting mid-wildfire

"What you've seen on the news is what it looked like here, actually experiencing it here firsthand was pretty terrifying," Wendy Francke told Boston 25 News reporter Chris Flanagan over FaceTime.

Francke grew up in Duxbury and graduated from Duxbury High School and has lived in California for 20 years, but has never been this close to such a ferocious wildfire.

Her husband is a a high school teacher and several of his student's families have lost their homes, so now they're helping collect supplies.

"I'm a physician and I know at least five physicians in my community that work at my hospital and clinic that have lost their homes, too," said Francke.

State fire officials say, so far, hundreds of homes have been devoured by the flames, with 12,000 more threatened.

"We all wear masks when we go outside. I, luckily, got some good hospital masks since I'm a physician so it's a little bit better today. Yesterday was pretty horrible," said Francke.

So far, the fire in Ventura County, where the Francke's live, is only five percent contained, but Wendy says the wind is blowing away from their town, so they appear to be safe for the time being.