San Diego Wildfires: Video shows terrifying close-up view of fire tearing through neighbourhood

Amateur cameraman Jeb Durgin gets extreme close up of chaos caused by San Diego wildfire

(Youtube)

The saying goes “if you can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.”

Well one man in San Diego certainly could stand the heat, and did anything but run for safety.

In a scene that would not look too out of place in a Hollywood disaster movie, Jeb Durgin drove within metres of one of the wildfires that have ravaged San Diego over the past week.

Filming from his car window, Durgin’s video shows just how terrifying the inside of a wildfire is, capturing the uncontrollable inferno close up.

As he speeds through the eye of the fire his camera takes in a wall of flames that paints the sky orange and seems to destroy everything in its path.

The wildfires have wreaked havoc in the southern Californian city over the past week racing through nearly 20,000 acres of brush land and causing nearly $20 million worth of damage.

Thousands of firefighters and water dropping military planes were called into action to try and keep back the flames.

After working tirelessly they were able to control the worst of the fires on Friday.

Nevertheless, there are fears that dry vegetation, high temperatures and low humidity could lead to further fires throughout the summer.

According to authorities they believe that the recent spate of fires could be the work of arsonists.

On Friday, Alberto Serrato, 57, pleaded not guilty after being suspected of arson.