A massive wildfire has been shooting through numerous rural areas in Northern California. In only a few hours, over 60 square miles were totally burned away, forcing thousands of locals out of their homes, screaming at the horror of seeing even firefighters carried into hospitals with second-degree burns.
HOW DID THIS WILDFIRE HAPPEN?
The Californian Inferno originated in Lake County, roughly 100 miles north of San Francisco on a breezy Saturday afternoon. Once the flames took to the air, all of the dying trees and brush produced from several years of drought were prime fuel for this hell. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection has tracked this wildfire’s progress, and have ordered the evacuation of entire towns and residents along a 35-mile stretch of highway.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BURNED MEN?
The scorched firefighters mentioned above were evacuated via helicopter, airlifted to the safety of a hospital burn unit. Department spokesman Daniel Berlant said of the men that as of now they are in stable condition.
However, farther east the remaining firefighters fought that Inferno roughly 70 miles southeast of Sacramento. Berlant commented that in only four days the little hell on earth swallowed 101 square miles in four days.
THE INFERNAL MACHINE
This Wednesday fire consumed 86 homes, 51 external structures, and still threatens to take 6,400 more from us. “I lost my business–it’s all burned up–my shop, my house, 28 years of living,” lamented Joe Thomas, a man living near the community of Mountain Ranch. “I got to start all over. It’s depressing.”
Thomas manages a repair business and a tractor dealership, and says that he and his wife grabbed their papers, his work computer, photos and their four dogs on their way out. Sadly, they had to leave their goat, five ducks, six rabbits and over 30 chickens to the inferno.
“I turned the pens open and turned them loose. I just couldn’t gather them up,” Thomas continued. “All we want to do is go home. It’s miserable.”
Later, Governor Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency, which opened funding and resources to fight the fire. Over 3,850 firefighters were assigned to fight the inferno, the cause of which is still unknown.
-story originally covered by Associated Press via The Garden Island
