Greenville, United States:
Before one of California’s worst-ever wildfires hit Greenville, the sky turned dark red like a warning. After the flames tore by way of the tiny town, all that remained was charred walls, ash and smoke.
The horrific consequence of the Dixie Fire was captured by AFP in a series of prior to and right after photographs from the monster blaze that has consumed hundreds of structures and forced thousands to flee.
“I watched in shock as a post office, fire station, bank, museum and countless other businesses were incinerated and reduced to smoldering piles of rubble,” wrote AFP photographer Josh Edelson. “Dead animals lay on roadsides.”
He watched “firefighters make futile attempts to stop 350-foot (105-metre) high flames towering over them – saving a few homes and losing most.”
Edelson, who has in depth expertise covering wildfires, was at one point forced to drive by way of a “corridor of flames” roaring on either side of the road.
“I went into emergency mode and immediately started making mental notes of where my fire shelter was,” he wrote right after creating it to security.
As of Sunday, the fire had destroyed 489,287 acres (198,007 hectares), authorities mentioned. It was then covering an location bigger than Los Angeles.
Over the weekend, it surpassed the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire to make it the second-worst fire in state history.
Governor Gavin Newsom visited the charred remains of Greenville on Saturday, expressing his “deep gratitude” to the teams fighting what he termed “climate-induced wildfires.”
Climate alter amplifies droughts, generating excellent situations for wildfires to spread out of manage and inflict unprecedented material and environmental harm.
Authorities estimate the fire, which started July 13, will not be totally extinguished for weeks.
Tami Kugler, sitting beside her tent at an evacuation station right after fleeing Greenville, told AFP: “It was like driving out of a war zone that you see in a movie.”
“My neighborhood is gone — I mean gone, gone,” she added.
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