The blaze also threatened the famed resort of Malibu. The victims died in their vehicles trying to escape a massive late-season inferno in the northern California town of Paradise, where the entire population of 26,000 was ordered to leave, officials said. “The preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were located in vehicles that were overcome by the Camp Fire,” said a statement by the Butte County Sheriff’s Department, adding that they had yet to be identified. Dozens of other people were reported missing. Residents who managed to escape Paradise posted harrowing videos to social media as they drove through tunnels of swirling smoke and orange flames to outrun the wildfire in the Butte County town, north of Sacramento. The fast-moving Camp Fire has been fanned by strong winds to scorch 20,000 acres (8,093 hectares) and has not been contained, the California Fire Department (Cal Fire) said. The flames destroyed hundreds of homes, a hospital, a gas station, several restaurants and numerous vehicles in Paradise, officials said. An AFP photographer on the scene saw houses enveloped in flames, while others had already been reduced to ashes and cars burned to husks. Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for more than 50,000 people in the scenic area in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, including some residents of Chico, population 93,000, near Paradise. “The magnitude of destruction we have seen is really unbelievable and heartbreaking and our hearts go to everybody who has been affected by this,” said Mark Ghilarducci, the director… [Read full story]
Leave a Reply