Before and After: Fires Tear Through California’s Wine Country
Viralz Today - Hundreds of firefighters were trying to contain blazes across Northern California’s wine country on Monday in what officials said was one of the most destructive fire emergencies in the state’s history.
In Santa Rosa, the largest city in Sonoma County, hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed. In the Coffey Park neighborhood, bare trees dotted the landscape where dozens of homes had been reduced to ash and rubble. As of Monday night, multiple evacuation orders had been issued in the city since fires first broke out on Sunday.
Smoke and fire engulfed both sides of Fountaingrove Parkway in Santa Rosa. Fires also raged further east through the heart of Sonoma and Napa wine country, damaging thousands of buildings and establishments, including multiple vineyards, wineries and at least one dairy.
The fires, which began Sunday night, appeared to catch residents off guard, with some fleeing on foot.
At least 73,000 acres had been burned by nightfall on Monday, destroying more than 1,500 homes and forcing the evacuation of more than 20,000 people, officials said.
At least 13 people had been killed as of Tuesday afternoon. Seven deaths were in Sonoma County, while three people died in Mendocino County, two in Napa County, and one in Yuba County.
About two miles northeast of Coffey Park, dozens of homes were destroyed in the Fountaingrove area of Santa Rosa. At least some of the buildings of the Fountaingrove Inn and the Santa Rosa Hilton, shown below, were burned to the ground.
While the cause of the fires remained under investigation on Monday, officials said that the blazes spread rapidly because of wind gusts of over 50 miles per hour. Dry vegetation and low humidity contributed to the intensity of the fires.
Source : www.nytimes.com
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