A large forest fire in California reduced to ruins the main avenue of the historic city of Greenville this Thursday (5), in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, about 160 kilometers of Sacramento, the capital of the state.
Fire crews were still attempting to put out the flames of the Dixie blaze, which sparked doomsday footage across the city center, showing scenic Greenville Avenue in piles of ash and debris as smoke rose, resulting in delighted local residents.
“We lost Greenville tonight. And there are no words to say that we in government are not able to do the job, ”said Doug LaMalfa, MP representing the region, in a video posted on Facebook, before stopping to to collect. “My heart is aching for what people are facing right now.”
With a population of 800, Greenville was founded over 150 years ago when the area’s gold mines attracted settlers and merchants to the city. “My beautiful, tough adopted hometown turned into a ghost town last night,” Plumas News reporter Meg Upton wrote in an article.
It is not known how many buildings were destroyed in Greenville as fire crews are still assessing the damage, company spokesman Mitch Matlow said. There are no injuries or deaths, but a man has been missing since he told his sister he was leaving town, according to Pluma News. The county sheriff ordered the evacuation on Wednesday.
The Dixie fire has ravaged the region for three weeks now, burning 130,000 hectares. About 35% of the flames were contained as of Thursday morning, officials said.
In the state, there are more than 12 active wildfires at this time. The river, which started Wednesday (4) and has already cleared 970 acres in Nevada and Placer counties, has forced the evacuation of thousands of people. More than 50 houses or other buildings were destroyed and another 30 damaged. California firefighters said the blaze was not under control.
The state, which typically faces the peak of the fire season a little later, is set to destroy more area this year than in the past, which recorded the worst season on record. The five worst fires in state history have occurred in the past three seasons, burning over a million hectares and destroying 3,700 buildings. Dixie is the sixth most devastating.
The California Emergency Services Agency said Thursday that about 16,000 people have been evacuated from their towns following multiple fires in five counties in the state’s upstate.