‘Heart stopping’ video shows firefighters driving into wall of flames as they battle raging wildfires in California

The flames and sparks swirl around the Brush fire truck, engulfing the vehicle, as the driver clings to the steering wheel.

It seems as if they are driving directly into hell.

The terrifying footage was taken from the cab of a firetruck as it battled the Tamarack Fire, which has scorched 50,000 acres of land along the border of California and Nevada south of Lake Tahoe.

The crew of firefighters, from the University of California Davis Fire Department, had gone in to try to protect homes near the city when the flames suddenly surrounded them.

They managed to escape unscathed.

UC Davis fire chief Nathan J Trauernicht paid tribute to their bravery on Twitter.

“Heart stopping video from our UC Davis Fire crew inside the cab of Brush 34 on the Tamarack Fire as they worked to protect a housing development last night,” he wrote.

“I am so incredibly proud of the bravery of our UC Davis firefighters as they help protect our state!”

The UC Davis crew were among more than 1,200 firefighters battling the Tamarack Fire on Thursday. The fire has burned more than 68 square miles of national forest, USA Today reported.

Footage shot by another person trying to cut a fire line to halt the spread of the blaze shows enormous plumes of dark smoke rising from the flames.

The Tamarack Fire is one of 80 large wildfires burning across the United States.

Almost half are situated in Montana and Oregon, and have sent smoke clouds sweeping across the continent, blotting out the sun and causing poor air quality on the East Coast.