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Flames can be seen spreading across the hill near Thousand Oaks, California. A US journalist today was about to donate blood to the victims of the shooting when he noticed the hill fire.
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The flames consume a car dealership as the fire camp rips paradise in California on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. Tens of thousands of people fled a rapidly occurring wildfire in northern California with babies and abandoned domestic animals and hit on foot in front of the flames that forced the evacuation of an entire city and destroyed hundreds of structures.(Photo: Noah Berger, AP)

The North The California city of Paradise was largely destroyed by a very violent fire in a state devastated by three wind-blown fires, including the Woolsey fire north of Los Angeles that forced the evacuation of 75,000 people in two counties.

In Butte County, about 80 kilometers north of Sacramento, strong winds prevented planes from dropping the self – timer on the fire that ravaged Paradise and moved on Friday morning into the night. is from Chico, a city of about 90,000 inhabitants.

In less than 24 hours, the campfire burned about 30 kilometers, transforming evacuation routes around the city of Paradise into firing tunnels, while the entire community of 27,000 inhabitants had to evacuate.

Cal Fire said the fire, only 5% content, had consumed 70,000 acres.

On Thursday, as Paradise was invaded by flames, terrified residents rushed to safety, plunged into the thick smoke that darkened the night and made driving difficult.

"We were surrounded by fire, we did it on both sides of the road," said police officer Mark Bass, who lives in Paradise and works in nearby Chico.

Bass evacuated his family and then returned to the fire to help rescue several disabled residents, including a man trying to transport his bedridden wife to safety. "It was only a wall of fire on either side of us and we could barely see the road in front of us."

Sherri Pritchard said that she only had time to take some pictures before she ran away with her family and dogs, leaving even clothes behind her.

"It was crazy, because when we were sitting in traffic, people were panicking," she said. "It was chaos, I could not believe what people were doing."

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CAMPFIRE

Captain Scott McLean of Cal Fire said a few thousand structures had been destroyed in the town about 300 km northeast of San Francisco. "Almost the entire community of Paradise is destroyed, it is this kind of devastation," he said.

The National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings about fire hazards in many parts of the state, indicating that low humidity and high winds are expected to continue throughout of the evening.

California's acting governor, Gavin Newsom, said the state of emergency in Butte County, where the fire was burning at one point, according to US climate scientist UCLA, Daniel Swain. This equates to about 60 football pitches per minute.

Hill fire

Earlier in the day, the hill fire near Thousand Oaks in Ventura Country took just 12 minutes to cross Highway 101, one of the region's major roads. It burned on the same path as the 2013 fire, which ravaged 24,000 acres before flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

More: The bill comes after the fire: the rising cost of fighting California flames

More: "Destroyed": In Paradise, California, an entire community of 27,000 residents was summoned to evacuate

According to Cal Fire, the hill fire had consumed 10,000 acres (15 square miles), although the Ventura County Fire Department reported no injuries or structural loss at a conference of press organized Thursday night.

"The first part of this fuel bed had not seen a fire for many years. Drought-stricken fuels, Santa Ana winds, low relative humidity, high temperatures: this is the recipe for fire, "said Deputy Chief of the Department of Fire Ventura County, Chad Cook, the commander of operations on the hill fire.

Woolsey Fire

The smallest of the three fires, the Woolsey Fire, grew steadily to 8,000 acres in one night in Ventura and Los Angeles counties with the Santa Ana winds fanning the flames and forcing hundreds of people to leave their homes. home.

Firefighters in Ventura County announced Friday that 75,000 homes had been evacuated in the two surrounding counties west of Los Angeles.

The reality TV celebrity Kim Kardashian-West, who lives in an area known as Hidden Hills in Los Angeles County, was among those who were forced to evacuate their homes, People's magazine reported. She had already filmed aerial shots on her private plane for Instagram Stories and realized that her own home was under threat.

"I have just returned home and we had 1 hour to pack and evacuate our house. I pray everyone is safe, "she wrote.

On Friday morning, firefighters reported that the fire had crossed the 101 highway near the city of Calabasas.

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A thick black smoke covers the sky in northern California from a rapidly growing wildfire that has forced tens of thousands of people to flee. The fire has already caused eviction orders in Butte County, about 90 kilometers north of Sacramento.
UNITED STATES TODAY & # 39; HUI

Contributor: Ventura County Star; Redding Record Searchlight; The Associated Press

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