Wildfire In California Caught On Tape
Town of Anderson Springs during fire (Youtube)
Wildfire In California Caught On Tape
Like a scene out of an end-of-the-world disaster movie, the town of Anderson Springs, CA goes up in flames while being filmed by a fleeing YouTuber.
The video, nearly 2 minutes in length, shows the utter devastation caused by the so-called Valley Fire, located in Lake County roughly 100 miles north of San Francisco, that has ravaged about 61,000 acres, destroyed at least 400 structures, and is currently only 5-percent contained. There has also been 1 reported death due to the fire as of late.
Firefighters battling a blaze on Saturday 09/12/15, (New York Times)
“It looked like hell everywhere,” said Maddie Ross, a 25 year old student at Santa Rosa Junior College, who fled with her grandparents from their Hidden Valley Lake home. She told the New York Times, “It was terrifying, truly terrifying. I’ve never been in a situation like that. We all felt like the world was coming to an end.” By Sunday afternoon, upwards of 1,000 homes and commercial structures had been damaged by what as been dubbed the “Valley fire.”
Town of Anderson Springs during fire, (Youtube user, mulletFive)
Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Lake and Napa counties due to the fire, and according to the Associated Press, 23,000 residents have already been evacuated. Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for Cal Fire, claims firefighters in California have responded to nearly 6,800 wildfires burning 545,000 acres while Cal Fire alone had handled 5,000 of the wildfires that had claimed 150,000 acres, compared with 80,000 acres per year on average.
The Valley fire began on Cobb Mountain on Saturday, but 20-mile-an-hour winds quickly pushed the blaze toward Middletown and the surrounding communities. A few hours later, half the town was destroyed.
Aftermath of the Middletown, CA blaze (LA Times)
Gary Kraus, a former fire chief and current Calistoga city councilman had this to say:
“There’s a sense of disbelief. It will be an absolute miracle if we don’t start hearing about fatalities up there. You get heart attacks, accidents in cars, because this fire came through so quick.”
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