Photos: Deadly wildfire levels a California town in less than a day
Updated On Nov 11, 2018 12:10 PM IST
Only a day after it began, a blaze that started outside the hilly town of Paradise in California had grown to nearly 362 square kilometers and destroyed more than 6,700 structures, almost all of them homes, making it California's most destructive wildfire since record-keeping began. Most of its buildings are in ruin. Entire neighborhoods are leveled. The business district is destroyed. In a single day, this Sierra Nevada foothill town founded in the 1800s was largely incinerated by flames that moved so fast there was nothing firefighters could do.
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Updated on Nov 11, 2018 12:10 PM IST
The Camp Fire rages through Paradise, California on Thursday. Not a single resident of Paradise — population 27,000 — could be seen anywhere in town Friday, the day after most of them fled the burning Northern California community that may be lost forever. Abandoned, charred vehicles cluttered the main thoroughfare, evidence of the panicked evacuation a day earlier. (Noah Berger / AP)
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Flames consume a building as the Camp Fire tears through Paradise. Most of its buildings are in ruin. Entire neighbourhoods are levelled. The business district is destroyed. In a single day, this Sierra Nevada foothill town founded in the 1800s was largely incinerated by flames that moved so fast there was nothing firefighters could do. (Noah Berger / AP)
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A vintage car rests among debris. Only a day after it began, the blaze that started outside the hilly town of Paradise had grown to nearly 140 square miles (362 square kilometers) and destroyed more than 6,700 structures, almost all of them homes, making it California’s most destructive wildfire since record-keeping began. (Noah Berger / AP)
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Nine people have been found dead, some inside their cars and others outside vehicles or homes after a desperate evacuation that Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea called “the worst-case scenario.” Their identities were not yet known. “It is what we feared for a long time,” Honea said, noting there was no time to knock on residents’ doors one-by-one. (Noah Berger / AP)
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Medical workers move equipment from a makeshift emergency room while the Feather River Hospital burns. A thick, yellow haze hung in the air, giving the appearance of twilight in the middle of the day. Some of the “majestic oaks” the town boasts of on its website still have fires burning in their trunks. Thick wooden posts holding up guardrails continued to burn. (Noah Berger / AP)
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Thursday morning’s evacuation order set off a desperate exodus in which many frantic motorists got stuck in gridlocked traffic. Many abandoned their vehicles to flee on foot as the flames bore down on all sides. “The fire was so close I could feel it in my car through rolled up windows,” said Rita Miller, who fled Paradise with her disabled mother. (Stephen Lam / REUTERS)
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The town’s 100-bed hospital is still standing, but two of its smaller buildings, including an outpatient clinic, are flattened. The Adventist Feather River Hospital evacuated its 60 patients in a frantic rush when the evacuation order came Thursday morning. Some were forced back by clogged roads, but all of them eventually made it out, some in dramatic fashion. (Noah Berger / AP)
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An inmate firefighter removes a wheel from a burning home. People in Paradise, like so many in California, have become accustomed to wildfires, and many said they were well prepared. They kept their gutters clean, some kept pumps in their swimming pools and had fire hoses. But the ferocity and speed of this blaze overwhelmed those preparations. (Stephen Lam / REUTERS)
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Embers blow in the wind as a Camp Fire burns a KFC restaurant in Paradise. Drought, warmer weather attributed to climate change and home construction deeper into forests have led to more destructive wildfire seasons that have been starting earlier and lasting longer. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / AFP)
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Two people embrace in the parking lot of the Feather River Hospital as it burns. Just 160km north of Paradise, the sixth most destructive wildfire in California history hit in July and August and was also one of the earliest. Called the Carr Fire, near Redding, it killed eight people, burned about 1,100 homes and consumed 927 square kilometers before it was contained. (Josh Edelson / AFP)
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Updated on Nov 11, 2018 12:10 PM IST