THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. If it wasnt for a late-night phone call from one of her former students, Sandy Wahl might have missed the order to evacuate.

As the rest of Agoura Hills residents were preparing to flee the Woolsey fire Thursday night, the 76-year-old music teacher and her partner, Ron Shroyer, 87, were making popcorn and getting ready to find a Christmas-y movie on TV. She knew the wildfire was burning nearby, but she had lived in her home for over 30 years and never had to evacuate before.

After the phone call, Wahl panicked. She grabbed her purse, her flute and a bag of important paperwork. She rushed to get her two small dogs, one of whom is blind and one who was hiding under the bed into their harnesses. When they finally piled into their Subaru Outback, Wahl and Shroyer realized they didnt know where they were escaping to or even where exactly the fires were.

Four days later, Wahl and Shroyer were among more than 150,000 California residents who have been displaced by fires raging across the state. Even in a drought-ridden region under near-constant threat of burning down just last year, a wildfire burned over 280,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties the speed, intensity and unpredictability with which the flames spread took Southern Californians by surprise.