CNN national correspondent Natasha Chen and her team were wrapping up a long day of reporting on the devastating wildfires racing through the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, as the sun set over the scorched landscape.

Resident Nicolas Libonati said he saw a lot of abandoned cars on the road, and people running toward the coast. "It was kind of a surreal scene," he said.

For the third time since early November, parts of Southern California’s Los Angeles and Ventura counties are under a red-flag warning for extreme fire danger.