Over the last week, raging fires in Northern California have claimed at least 31 lives, officially making it the deadliest week for wildfires in the state’s history.
With entire neighborhoods inaccessible after being burned to the ground, however, authorities say that number is likely to climb – as many residents, senior citizens in particular, were caught completely off guard by the fire’s rapid spread and intensity.
County officials said some neighborhoods they’ve flown over are ‘totally decimated, with not one single structure still standing.’
Santa Rosa was hit particularly hard. The LA Times reports an estimated 2,834 homes and 400,000 square feet of commercial space has been destroyed – even burning down the city’s new fire station.
Drone footage captures the scale of #wildfire devastation as houses are reduced to ashes after fires swept through Santa Rosa, #California pic.twitter.com/UId5qTWfGe
— nyspin (@NewYork_SPIN) October 11, 2017
“We are not even close to being out of this emergency,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the state’s Office of Emergency Services.
Shirlee Zane, one of the district supervisors for Sonoma County, says she flew over communities that “looked like war zones. They looked like somebody had bombed them.”
“The air quality is very dangerous right now,” she tells NPR. “It’s thick, with brown smoke. People cannot really go outside. It’s really not safe. You see a lot of people going around with face masks.”
Wayne Peterson of Sonoma described the air as “acrid.”
“I’m wearing the mask because I’ve been here two or three days now, I live here,” Petersen was quoted by The Associated Press as saying. “It’s starting to really affect my breathing and lungs so I’m wearing the mask. It’s helping.”
While the cause of the fires has not yet been determined, authorities noted that strong winds knocked trees into power lines, which may have sparked the fires.
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on TwitterMassive Fires Wreak Havoc on Communities in California’s Far North https://t.co/UNwn7GC1i6 pic.twitter.com/QXnXZ9fd1a
— KQEDscience (@KQEDscience) September 25, 2017
Anybody shorting insurance companies here? It’ll be more difficult for insurers to squeak themselves out of fire insurance than flood coverage in Texas. We could talk some serious coin the insurers will be out of once they start paying out.