Dennis Quaid Stops to Talk to Reporter, Gives Advice to Evacuees While Fleeing Home

Dennis Quaid's defintely cool under pressure ... stopping to talk to a reporter while evacuating his Los Angeles home in the midst of the fires -- and dropping some knowledge for fellow evacuees.

The actor was leaving his home in Brentwood overnight after the Pacific Palisades wildfire changed with the wind and started to creep toward the affluent L.A. neighborhood.

The reporter -- working for the local NBC outlet -- cracks a joke ... saying Dennis is trying to perform a miracle -- putting two 17-year-old girls laundry baskets into his Mercedes.

Check out the clip ... Dennis is clearly laughing at the quip -- and, even jumps in to correct a reporter after he says the power went out. Dennis replies they turned it off on purpose in order to prevent downed powerlines from contributing to the blaze.

Dennis then encourages people to switch off their gas lines while they're leaving their homes ... in hopes of slowing down the diaster.

Quaid keeps it light during all this ... despite the scary situation on the ground in West L.A. -- though, he gets more emotional later on in the talk.

The Palisades Fire has bruned more than 22K acres this week ... the largest of the several fires that have sprung up in L.A. it's currently only about 11% contained -- and, thousands of people have been forced to evacuate.