do you have a car no. get in. reporter: door to door sheriffs office sheriffs office! ma am, you have to evacuate. yeah, we are. we re packed reporter: sheriffs deputies evacuating residents. bring whatever is available. reporter: evacuating residents. reporter: even saving horses. tonight officers talking about the split second decision. for me it was, yeah, i m terrified. and i was terrified that whole day this is my job to do i ve got to do it. i m trained for it hopefully make it out of there, which of course we did. that s what we re here for reporter: that day risking their own lives to drive through the fire only daylight would reveal the extent of the devastation. more than one thousand homes lost, but a community grateful to the brave officers who helped so many survive. emilie ikeda, nbc news. amazing work by those officers let s turn now into the investigation into those pop-up covid testing sites you have likely seen. new warnings