As California’s largest wildfire raced through the state’s tinder-dry landscape, destroying hundreds of square miles, evacuation orders were expanded Thursday (kilometres).
Due to strong winds and record-low humidity, the Dixie Fire, which is currently the sixth largest in state history, was still expanding.
The historic mining town of Greenville, a hamlet of a few hundred people dating back to the mid-1800s Gold Rush, was nearly wiped out this week.
“I’d say the bulk of downtown Greenville is entirely burned,” said Stuart Palley, a wildfire photographer who shared photographs of the destruction on Twitter.
“My heart breaks for this lovely small village.”
Since mid-July, the Dixie Fire has been raging in the parched forests of northern California, part of a global warming climate disaster that has delivered blistering heat and an alarming drought to the region.
It has now devoured around 500 square miles of land (1,300 square kilometers). Overnight Wednesday and Thursday, over a sixth of that area was added.
The fire has grown so large that it has created its own weather system.
Mitch Matlow, a spokesman with the California Fire Department, told reporters, “We did everything we could.” “There are moments when it’s just not enough.”
The intensity of the fire had bent street lights to the ground, with only a few structures remaining standing, according to images taken by an AFP photographer in Greenville.
Many structures over a century old were destroyed, including a gas station, a hotel, and a pub.
According to Jake Cagle, incident management team operations section chief, the fire rushed across the town on Wednesday afternoon and had a terrible impact.
He said firefighters were having trouble with people who were disobeying evacuation orders, forcing them to spend time and resources to save people in the line of the flames while battling the massive conflagration.
“We have firefighters who are having their pistols drawn on them because people refuse to flee,” he stated on Thursday.
“It was a really difficult day for all of our resources,” Cagle said. “There’s stuff out there that we didn’t want to see.”
