San Francisco and other parts of the west coast of the United States woke up to dark orange skies worthy of an apocalypse scene on Wednesday, amid smoke from the fires that continue to ravage California.
At midday, the mixture of fog and smoke gave the city a surreal atmosphere as if the sun had still not risen.
"
Forest fire haze is darkening the skies across San Francisco Bay
," authorities said.
They have been providing daily information for weeks on air quality, and regularly advise vulnerable people not to go out.
Read also: Fires: California faced with a historical tragedy
More than two dozen fires raged in California, and nearly a thousand firefighters battled the blaze dubbed Creek Fire in the upstate Fresno area, which has spread to more than 56,000 hectares.
The outbreaks extended from the border with Canada, in Washington state, to the Mexican border, near San Diego (California), where nearly 7,000 hectares went up in smoke, according to local authorities.
The San Francisco Bridge.
Philip Pacheco / AFP
As you walked through the streets of San Francisco during the day, you could see locals working on their computers by the light of their lamps, only to see clearly in the glowing darkness.
Surprisingly, after many days in which the air smelled of smoke and ash, the atmosphere seemed breathable.
On social networks, users competed in terror and humor, with references to scenes from apocalyptic films or jokes about the year 2020, decidedly synonymous with disasters, even for a region accustomed to earthquakes and fires.
@choleemo, a TikTok user, showed a beach in Oregon, northern California, where the sand, sea and sky formed a palette of gradations in red tones, only white foam and the sound of waves reminding that it was indeed the ocean.
“
Here are some photos from my trip to the bay this week.
Glad there wasn't an earthquake or flooding,
”tweeted analyst Patrick Moorhead, with footage from Blade Runner 2049, a sci-fi film, where we see a lone hero advancing towards ruins covered with orange dust, under a sky of the same color.
Fires have been ravaging California for several weeks.
STEPHEN LAM / REUTERS
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