California Wildfires: Thousands Flee as Valley and Butte Blazes Force Evacuations
Hundreds of buildings have been lost to a fast-moving Northern California wildfire that had forced thousands to flee on Sunday 13 September.
The so-called Valley Fire in Lake County erupted early Saturday afternoon (12 September) and rapidly burned through brush and trees parched from several years of drought. The fire spread quickly, growing from 0.2 square kilometers to just over 200 square kilometers – about one-third the size of Singapore – in 24 hours.
Placid Clear Lake, in Lake County, California, now ravaged by the Valley blaze
Unfortunately, according to the fire-fighting officials, the blaze was still at zero percent containment, as the authorities’ first priority right now was to save lives. Thus, entire towns, as well as residents, along a 56-kilometre stretch of highway were ordered to flee their homes – that’s just a little longer than the length of Singapore from east to west! And in some cases, residents had only minutes to evacuate.
A Northern California fire crew works into the night clearing the fire line
The governor of California, Jerry Brown, has declared a state of emergency in Lake County, while the county has called all personnel to report to duty, cancelling any scheduled day off. One thousand firefighters were dedicated to battling the Valley blaze as of Sunday morning, and more were on the way.
Jerry Brown, governor of California (USA)
Meanwhile, more than 4000 firefighters battled a blaze in another two Californian counties, which was spurred on by unprecedented fire conditions and steep terrain that had helped the flames to spread. The blaze, dubbed the Butte fire, flared on Wednesday (9 September) and was 25 percent contained by Sunday afternoon.
Amador County, one of two counties facing the wrath of the Butte fire
The Butte fire had destroyed 81 homes and 51 buildings and was threatening about 6,400 more. Mandatory evacuation orders were in place for several communities. Said one resident,
“I lost my business — it's all burned up — my shop, my house, 28 years of living. I got to start all over. It's depressing."
(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)
