Deadly wildfires sweep across California
AN ONSLAUGHT of wildfires across a wide stretch of northern California has swallowed up properties from wineries to trailer parks and ripped through tiny rural towns and urban areas.
Authorities last night said that at least 15 people were dead, with 100 injured, and as many as 2,000 homes and businesses have been destroyed. All three figures are expected to surge in the coming days.
Taken as a group, the fires are already among the deadliest in California history.
Some of the largest of the 14 blazes burning over a 200-mile region were in Napa and Sonoma counties, home to dozens of wineries that attract tourists from around the world. They sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles away.
Sonoma County said it has received more than 100 missing person reports as family and friends scramble to locate loved ones.
Much of the damage was in Santa Rosa, a city far larger and more developed than those that usually find themselves at the mercy of a wildfire. The city is home to 175,000 residents.
The flames were unforgiving and hundreds of homes of all sizes were levelled by flames so hot they melted the glass in cars and turned aluminium wheels into liquid.
Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry, who runs an outdoor sporting goods store in Santa Rosa, was forced to flee in minutes with his wife, two daughters and a son just over two weeks old.
“I can’t shake hearing people scream in terror as the flames barrelled down on us,” Lowry said.
The ferocity of the flames forced authorities to focus primarily on getting people out safely, even if it meant abandoning structures.
Firefighters rushed to a state home for the severely disabled in the historic Sonoma County town of Glen Ellen.
Crews got the more than 200 people out of the threatened buildings, as flames closed within a few dozen feet.