California Wild Fires Leave Valley Towns With Nothing But Ashes, Destroys Hundreds Of Structures

Over 50,000 acres of Northern California territory are now ablaze due to unstoppable wild fires. In it’s path, the wild fires left some Northern California towns with nothing but debris. Among these unfortunate towns are Middletown, Hidden Lake Valley and Cobb. These small towns with under 2,000 residents sit just a few miles west of California’s capital, Sacramento, and so far failed attempts at killing the fires indicate that suburbs close to the capital could be next.

Collectively, the devastated towns lost over 180 homes, according to the Washington Post. Though this figure has been calculated, officials in charge of examining the state of the fires as they move and progress believe that much more damage has been done in the valley. Recently, Daniel Berlant, a spokesperson to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, expressed his uncertainty of the actual amount of damage done via Twitter.

“This has been a very destructive fire. It has destroyed countless homes and other buildings, Evacuations are widespread in the area.”

Structures are not the only thing the wild fires have ruined. Reportedly, many firefighters have been injured while attempting to contain and extinguish the fires. In recent reports, four fire fighters have been sent to the hospital with second degree burns. Daniel Berlant contests that the massive flames from the wild fire are extremely dangerous for even professionals to fight.

“Every time they made progress, the fire would burn right past them.”

Though thousands of Sacremento Valley residents are said to have fled the area, many remained local, hiding in places like shelters, restaurants, and other large buildings, waiting for the wild fires to die so that they may return home. Unfortunately for some, not only do they not have a home to return to, but many of them don’t even have a town to return to. Reports reveal that Middletown, specifically, is officially a city of ruins.

Consuming almost everything in it’s path, the California wild fires moved on from Middletown and its surrounding areas and continues to be a traveling force of destruction. Many residents in the area have shared testimonies of their face-to-flame experience with the fires. One woman, Lauren Streblow, told Reuters it was the most frightening moment of her life.

“I saw flames all around. Because we weren’t moving in traffic, you sat for 30, 40 minutes, flames on both sides of me. The wind was insane. I have never been so scared.”

[Photo by George Rose/Getty Images]