One of California’s fastest-burning wildfires in decades has spread through several towns in the northern part of the state since Saturday. Temperatures have cooled since the previous week, but, with conditions remaining dry, the fires are continuing to burn rapidly.
Two fires have displaced 23,000 people and have destroyed hundreds of homes. People displaced by the Valley and Butte fires have been sent to various temporary evacuation centers across the northern California counties.
The Valley fire in Lake County has burned 62,000 acres since 12 September, killing one woman and injuring four firefighters. The blaze has destroyed 585 homes plus hundreds of other structures.
The Butte fire, in the Amador and Calaveras counties, has spread 71,660 acres and is 37% contained. It has threatened 6,400 structures.
Elsewhere in California, 10 other fires are burning. Altogether, more than 13,000 firefighters are working to control the flames: 4,668 on the Butte fire, 3,741 on the Rough fire, 2,362 on the Valley fire, 836 on the Lumpkin fire and the rest scattered among the remaining eight fires.
Here are some of the most dramatic pictures and videos of the fires posted on social media over the last few days:
Phone run over by a fire truck during the #ValleyFire. This is video recovered from Sat night in #Middletown pic.twitter.com/cL7aRwtSbt
— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBCLA) September 14, 2015
