A NURSE has relived the moment she escaped a burning car and thought she was "going to die" after fleeing a hospital in California's deadly wildfire.

Nichole Jolly, whose trousers burst into flames while she fled to safety, works at the Feather River Hospital in the town of Paradise.

Mrs Jolly and other nurses had been helping the hospital's 60 patients evacuate the hospital before they were told to drive to a nearby road which was deemed to be safe.

But flames fanned by strong winds soon engulfed the area in the north of the state where wildfires are thought to have killed dozens of people.

She told ABC 7 News: "So we went down the road and my car got completely engulfed in flames. The cab filled up with smoke.

"I called my husband and I said 'I think I'm going to die, I love you, tell the kids I love them.'"

The nurse, who lives in Paradise Lakes in Magalia, California, added: "He told me 'don't die, run'."

"I hung up the phone, and I got out of the car, with the flames blowing right up the back of my pants.

"And I ran to my best friend's car right in front of me and it was melting right in front of my eyes.

"I couldn't open the door because the plastic handle to the door was melted.

"And I banged on her window, she didn't come out, I thought she was dead in there.

"I couldn't stay there, the fire was right on me, my pants were catching on fire."

Mrs Jolly said she then spotted a fire engine and grabbed the back of it before firefighters hauled her in and put the flames out.

But as flames began shooting up from either side of the road, she feared the worst.

The nurse said the fire engine was surrounded by flames but fortunately a "bulldozer came through and saved our lives, and we were able to turn around".

She added that she "didn't even know her best friend was right behind her" and made it back to the hospital as well.

Mrs Jolly said that the nurses started treating patients outside the hospital while firefighters tackled flames on the roof.