An elderly Maltese-American couple has spoken of its narrow escape in last Friday's inferno in California which destroyed a large number of homes, killing seven and injuring 52.
The couple had just sat down to watch the evening news at their home in San Bruno when they heard a loud boom that sounded like a plane crash.
"The house shook pretty bad. We were terrified and when we opened the front door there was a big ball of fire about 100 feet high blazing away - you could feel its intense heat," Theresa Muscat told The Sunday Times.
Mrs Muscat, 73, and her husband Jim are the lucky survivors of the gas pipeline explosion that ripped through their neighbourhoo, destroying 38 homes.
The couple, one of hundreds, have been evacuated from their home and they have no idea when they can return home or the extent of the damage, but they are optimistic the building is still standing.
At the moment they are staying with their daughter who lives 30 miles from the city and they assured any relatives living in Malta that the whole family in the US are safe and coping just fine.
“It sounded like a plane had just turned on its engines and was about to crash... It felt like it was right over our house, so we grabbed the children and ran outside into the backyard,” Mrs Muscat said.
The deafening sound remained but they could not see anything, until Ms Vella-Nicholas ventured to the front of the house and saw “huge plumes of smoke on the horizon towering over the trees”.
Firemen were soon patrolling the roads ordering everyone over a megaphone to evacuate their homes.
“We piled some things into a suitcase and left in our car. Over the radio we heard people were congregating at a shopping centre, so we headed there. We’re all fine, but shaken up,” she said, adding she was still concerned about the fate of her neighbours and friends.
Maltese-American Benny Grech too was evacuated from his home, but has been one of the lucky ones that was allowed to return.
The Maltese community in San Bruno had welcomed Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg during their visit to the neighbourhood last year.