![]() “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but this sky is telling me something different.” “When I see flames coming from any direction, I’ll throw them in and go,” he said, looking at the sky filled with orange smoke. His dogs anxiously barked from inside the house. In the bed of the truck, his two goats were loaded into metal crates. Among them was Kevin Bartlett, 37, a disabled former truck driver who lives in Canyon Dam, about 9 miles along Highway 89, where fire crews were stationed.īartlett filled his white Chevy pickup truck with clothing, family heirlooms and urns holding the ashes of lost family pets. Other residents in nearby towns faced the same agonizing choice Thursday, with the Dixie Fire still growing. Vaughn’s wife, Martha, evacuated days earlier with the couple’s horses, but he stayed behind to protect their trailer and chickens. Nearby, he could see that the home of one of his daughters had burned to the ground. He hoisted buckets of water from his above-ground pool to hold back the flames until a fire crew arrived in the wee hours. The night before, Vaughn, a disabled retiree, had fought desperately to save his home from a wall of soaring flames that came within several yards of his gravel driveway. Firefighters on bulldozers spent the morning clearing arterial streets of debris, as the walls of burned-out buildings occasionally collapsed nearby and foundations smoldered. Melted streetlamps dangled over glass-covered sidewalks. Vaughn, who defied evacuation warnings, drove into town Thursday morning to assess the damage and wept as he struggled to recognize the torched brick remains of old buildings that once lined the main drag. The Plumas County community of Greenville was destroyed in the Dixie Fire. Flames tore through the Sierra Lodge Hotel, a pizzeria, a bakery, and the Way Station, which recently opened as a bar and restaurant. Evacuated early in the week, by Thursday it was a vast field of rubble, gutted buildings, downed light poles and scorched trees, with spot fires flickering in the wreckage. Greenville, a town sustained by logging, cattle ranching and Christmas tree farms, has been the most significant loss to date. The state has seen an “astounding” 151% increase in acres burned, compared with this time last year, the agency said. The blaze had erupted Wednesday night, when gusts buffeted flames over control lines in Round Valley, according to a Cal Fire report Thursday morning.Ĭalifornia has grown accustomed to such devastation, but on Thursday, Cal Fire announced grim new statistics: Six of the state’s seven biggest wildfires have occurred within the past year. aBD2RJTejW- CAL FIRE Butte Unit/Butte County Fire Department August 5, 2021Īlthough the fire was 35% contained Thursday, firefighters were still struggling to get the upper hand, and the changing wind patterns caused new fears. ![]() Amazing how much the cloud changes in a short time, proof of the extreme conditions and fire activity on the ground. It created a pyrocumulus cloud that quickly expanded and grew darker, “proof of the extreme conditions and fire activity on the ground,” a tweet from the Butte County Fire Department said Thursday afternoon.Ī time lapse video looking at 10 minutes of the Pyrocumulous cloud over the #DixieFire. Masks: Will my COVID mask work for wildfire smoke? The Dixie Fire laid waste to the historic Gold Rush town and then moved on with ferocious speed.Īmong the ashen remains: a general store built around 1881, the collapsed brick facade of a Masonic lodge and the fallen sign of the former Pioneer Cafe.įire Tracker: The latest on wildfires across the state GREENVILLE, Plumas County - Almost no structures are left standing in the center of town, except for a Dollar General store, a bank and a small supermarket. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Show More Show Less ![]() Trees are engulfed in flames along Interstate 89 during the Dixie Fire in Greenville. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 6 of6 Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 5 of6Ī damaged vehicle stands amid burning structures during the Dixie Fire in Greenville. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 4 of6 Stephen Lam / The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of6Ī firefighter with the Stanislaus Hotshots monitors a flame on a hill side while defending a home during the Dixie Fire in Greenville. Stephen Lam/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of6Ī firefighter with the Stanislaus Hotshots walks past a backfire while defending a home from the Dixie Fire in Greenville in the Sierra north of Lake Tahoe. Jason Butcher, a forester with the Cal Fire Humboldt unit, performs a damage assessment on a property destroyed by the Dixie Fire in Greenville.
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