Ash rained down on Lake Tahoe on Tuesday and thick yellow smoke blotted out views of the mountains rimming its pristine blue waters as a massive wildfire threatened the alpine vacation spot on the California-Nevada state line.
More than 13,500 firefighters were working Monday to contain a dozen large California wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced thousands of people to flee to safety.
POLLOCK PINES, Calif. (AP) — Record-setting blazes raging across Northern California are wiping out forests that are central to plans to reduce carbon emissions and are testing projects designed to protect communities from wildfires, the state’s top fire official said Wednesday, hours before a fast-moving new blaze erupted.
The governors of California and Nevada called for more federal firefighting assistance Wednesday as they toured a region blackened by one of several massive wildfires that have destroyed dozens of homes in the West.
I had just changed into my pajamas when I smelled the smoke. I had heard the fireworks earlier, but fireworks aren’t exactly unusual in Vallejo in the run-up to Fourth of July, so I didn’t think anything of it. Still, I went to the window. What I saw was a wave of embers, like a wall of glowing red, raining down from the sky. I didn’t know anything else, I couldn’t see anything else, but I slammed the window shut and started shouting.