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Lindsey Bever
Generalist journalist covering national and last-minute news
Eli Rosenberg
Generalist journalist covering national and last-minute news
MALIBOU LAKE, Calif. – A growing trio of forest fires has cremated vast tracts of northern and southern California over the past three days. The huge camp fire north of Sacramento had destroyed some 6,700 structures, becoming the most destructive hell in a state characterized by a long and catastrophic history of fires.
Since Thursday, more than 200,000 Californians have been displaced, more than the population of the city of Orlando. In addition to the deaths, dozens of missing people have been reported. Authorities warned that property losses would also be huge. Two fires near Los Angeles threatened Malibu homes and destroyed Paramount Ranch, the location of the HBO Westworld series.
Before officials announce the latest bleak statistics and increase in the number of dead on Saturday, President Trump has stoked an ongoing dispute with California leaders, accusing mismanagement of the resources of the United States. State of destruction and death.
"There is no reason for these massive, deadly and expensive forest fires in California, if it is that the management of the forest is so bad," tweeted Trump Saturday morning. "Billions of dollars are given every year, with so many lives lost, all because of poor forest management. Remedy now, or more payments from the Fed!
On Saturday morning, it was the first time the president publicly spoke of recent fires in California, but he has consistently and consistently blamed the intensification of forest fires for poor resource management by California authorities. Twice in October, Trump made similar threats because of what he saw as a bad forest management policy, writes Aaron Blake of The Fix.
California authorities have in the past countered Trump's assertion that ever-increasing fires were the result of climate change, which is drying up vegetation and turning fire-prone areas into a powder keg.
[The weather and climate behind the infernos that wrecked Paradise and threaten Malibu]
In Butte County, in northern California, about 90 km north of the state capital, Sacramento, residents said they fled a catastrophic fire on Thursday. Hell grew at an incredible rate, made nine dead and turned a sunny day into an end-of-day scene of flames, smoke, sparks and major destruction.
Named after Camp Creek's next camp, the fire is not over yet. It had burned at least 90,000 acres, more than 140 km 2, and had been under control only on Saturday, forcing officials to declare emergency status for a fire likely to occur. aggravate during the weekend.
Authorities warned that the conditions of the "red flag" would persist Monday, hot, dry and windy weather that would make the country conducive to the spread of a fire.
Butte County Sheriff, Kory L. Honea, told reporters at a press conference Friday night that officials had found nine people killed in the fire: four were found dead in their homes. drive to Paradise, as the five officials had talked about earlier; three to the outside of the houses; and two others, one in the interior of a house and the other near a car.
The fire had injured an indeterminate number of residents as well as three firefighters. And Honea's deputies were still examining about 35 cases of disappearances.
"This event was the worst scenario," Honea said. "This is the event we have been dreading for a long time."
In Ventura County, Southern California, still in shock from a shooting that killed 12 people, new fires broke out, forcing Thousand Oaks, Malibu and other regions to claim 100,000 people. to flee their home. The Woolsey fire burned about 35,000 acres, officials said, while the nearby Hill fire burned 6,000.
On Saturday, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Chief John Benedict told The Associated Press that two people were found dead in the fire zone of a fire in Southern California.
The dead are the first of two forest fires burning north and west of downtown Los Angeles.
[Pepperdine students sheltered in place as wildfire raged around the Malibu campus]
But of all the areas affected by fires in the state up to now, paradise has experienced the worst situation. Its main shopping street has been transformed into a smoker's destruction trail. Officials said 6,453 homes and 260 businesses had been destroyed, making the fire the most destructive in California's history. The former record holder, the Tubbs Fire in the state's wine region, came from last year.
Marc Kessler, 55, a science teacher at a public college in Paradise, said the sky was dark soon after he arrived at work.
"It was raining black soot, falling like a blizzard and lighting fires everywhere," he said in an interview. "In a few minutes, the city was engulfed."
Rescuers ordered teachers to break the seatbelt laws because they had put about 200 students in their personal vehicles. The bus drivers went through the flames to help, he added. One of his students pointed out what they thought was the moon in the darkened sky.
"I said, 'It's not the moon. It's the sun, "he recalled, crackled voice. "There were times when you could not see through the smoke."
Paradise Mayor Jody Jones said most buildings in her town of 26,000 had been destroyed.
"There are very few homes still standing and we went to different neighborhoods this afternoon," Jones told CNN. "There is really not much left".
Brynn Chatfield, a resident of Paradise, posted a terrifying video as she and her family escaped fire, the flames ignited a few feet from their vehicle and embers hit their way.
"Heavenly Father, help us please," she said in the video. "Please, help us to be safe."
The video ends while the vehicle is out of the flames for a normal day. Chatfield then posted the video, which has since been seen nearly 2 million times.
"My hometown of Paradise is on fire," she wrote. "My family is evacuated and safe. All my friends are not safe. "
On Saturday, when some evacuation orders were raised, people started to return to their quarters to see what was left.
Jeff McClenahan, 53, a university professor, returned home Saturday to Malibou Lake and found it destroyed, burned to the foundation Friday by the Woolsey fire, which had crossed the Highway 101.
He looked incredulously, then dropped to his knees, sobbing.
"On the one hand, it's just shit," he said. "These are things. But it's a lot of history. All our lives were here.
Achenbach reported from Thousand Oaks, California E. Aaron Williams to Paradise, California; Tony Biasotti, Katie Mettler and Katie Zezima at Thousand Oaks; and Jason Samenow in Washington contributed to this report.
Read more:
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