Luxury 250-room hotel de voured as California burns
ENGULFED by flames, this luxury hotel lies all but ruined by California’s deadly wildfires.
Only the swimming pool at the 250room Hilton in Sonoma wine country escaped the inferno.
Across the state, at least 11 people have been killed and hundreds are missing.
Another 20,000 have been forced to flee homes threatened by some of the most disastrous fires in Californian history. Most evacuees had next to no notice and escaped on foot, leaving their possessions behind.
Several thousand firemen were battling blazes in 16 locations across the state, helped by helicopters and planes. Among the hardest hit are the picturesque wine regions of Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino.
At least 1,500 buildings have been destroyed and more than 120,000 acres set ablaze. Several hotels catering to wine tourists were gutted, including the Hilton in Santa Rosa.
The extent of the destruction could even be seen on satellite images. Most of the fires started on Sunday night and spread with explosive speed because of extremely dry conditions and winds of up to 50mph. It is not clear what the causes were.
Among the dead were a deaf-blind woman and a married couple, aged 100 and 99, who were unable to evacuate in time. The casualty figures are expected to climb sharply as emergency crews pick through the wreckage of burn-out homes.
California governor Jerry Brown asked Donald Trump to declare a national disaster. ‘This is really serious. It’s moving fast,’ he said. ‘The heat, the lack of humidity and the winds are all driving a very dangerous situation and making worse.’
He said the fires were ‘not under control by any means, but we’re on it in the best way we know how’.
More than 5,000 homes in Southern California were evacuated on Monday as fire crews struggled to battle a rapidly growing brush fire. The blaze has scorched 6,000 acres and destroyed dozens of buildings in Orange County.
Plumes of smoke were visible over Disneyland and officials issued air quality warnings for parts of Los Angeles County.
Officials in Sonoma imposed a curfew
starting at sunset and said police were on the alert for looters. The fire was so intense that it burned through the metal and glass trailers of a retirement home, destroying even safes that had been advertised as fireproof.
‘This is all I have,’ said resident richard snyder, pointing to the jeans and T -shirt he was wearing. ‘and one pair of glasses.’