The Dixie Fire, a gigantic fire in California, ravaged a town in the north of the state on the night of Wednesday 4 to Thursday 5 August, twisting its lampposts in the heat and destroying several historic buildings, the population having evacuated a few hours before .
Greenville, a small town of about 800 people, has been engulfed by the flames of the Dixie Fire that has devastated northern California for three weeks, fueled by sweltering heat, alarming drought and continuing winds.
Read also: With global warming, “zombie” fires are on the increase in the Arctic
The fire has now spread to more than 110,000 hectares.
"
Firefighters are fighting for the city of Greenville,
" Pandora Valle, spokeswoman for the US forest services, told the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday evening, without giving further details.
Images taken by an AFP photographer show metal lampposts bent in half by the heat of the fire and a few rare structures still standing.
The fire melted the vehicles.
JOSH EDELSON / AFP
A gas station, hotel and bar were destroyed, along with some buildings over a century old, in this town built during the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century.
The fire reached Greenville at around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday (1:00 a.m. in France), according to Jake Cagle, section chief with the disaster management team.
A commercial building destroyed by flames.
FRED GREAVES / REUTERS
In a video posted Wednesday evening, he said firefighters were being delayed by people not following evacuation orders, forcing them to sacrifice time and resources to come to their aid.
Some 2,000 residents of California were called on Wednesday to evacuate
their homes
"
immediately
" when the flames approached.
The Dixie Fire is so vast that it is at the origin of its own climatic phenomena.
"
Imminent danger
"
"
If you stayed, you should evacuate EAST, IMMEDIATELY!"
The Plumas County Sheriff's Office tweeted, addressing residents of the communities of Greenville and Chester.
"
If you are still in the Greenville area, you are in imminent danger and you MUST go now!"
", He added in a second alert message, adding:"
If you stay, the emergency services may not be able to come to your aid.
By the end of July, the number of acres burned in California was up 250% from 2020, which was already the worst year for fires in recent state history.
Read also: The thaw of permafrost, a climate time bomb
The Dixie Fire is painfully reminiscent of the Paradise Fire of 2018, California's deadliest fire in recent years.
Faulty power lines, which ran through the northern town of Paradise, had swept through the blaze, killing 86 people.
Firefighters attempting to stem the spread of the fire.
JOSH EDELSON / AFP
Energy supplier Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), California's largest energy company, pleaded guilty. PG&E equipment is again in question for the Dixie Fire, after a tree fell on a power cable the day the fire started. At the end of July, the company announced that it would bury its 16,000 km of electric cables to prevent its equipment from causing new devastating fires.