Wind-driven firestorms leave widespread devastation across the state
Northern California – Atlas and Tubbs fires
As devastating wildfires continued to spread in Sonoma and Napa counties Wednesday, firefighters launched a desperate effort to extinguish key hot spots before heavy, fire-stoking winds could kick back up later in the evening.
Officials fear that strong winds forecast for Wednesday evening and Thursday morning will spread embers from the deadly Tubbs fire to populated areas of Santa Rosa and Calistoga that have so far been spared — a development that would prompt new evacuations.
A private home perched on top of a hill sits in the foreground of a fire moving up on Shiloh Ridge near Santa Rosa.
Aerial view of the damage caused by wildfire that destroyed the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa.
Fire lights up the night sky framed by a vineyard near Kenwood.
Chloe Hoskins, 7, wearing a bandanna to protect herself from the smoke and ash, checks on a neighbor's burned-out property with her father in the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa.
Anita and Todd McNeive look for anything to salvage from their burned home in the Fountaingrove neighborhood in Santa Rosa.
Edward Wright removes melted jewelry from a safe that was in the garage of his Santa Rosa home before it was destroyed Monday morning.
Jim Hanks removes a fawn he found in the backyard pond of his Fountaingrove home, one of the only homes on the block that survived the Monday morning inferno in Santa Rosa.
A swimming pool reflects the damage caused by the wildfires that moved through neighborhoods near Glen Ellen.
Grape leaves are silhouetted against the rising sun as smoke chokes the sky near Kenwood in Sonoma County.
A Fountaingrove resident surveys his destroyed home he has owned for 4 years in Santa Rosa.
Bill Cutting surveys the damage to his best friend's home in Hidden Valley, where most of the homes were destroyed by fire, in Santa Rosa.
Southern California — Canyon 2 fire
Orange County fire officials evacuated more than 5,000 homes in three cities as the fast-moving fire grew. At least 12 homes were destroyed after the fire raced up a hillside.
The Canyon 2 fire also forced the closure of nine schools Tuesday. Six — Anaheim Hills Elementary, Canyon Rim Elementary, Chapman Hills Elementary, Linda Vista Elementary, Panorama Elementary and Running Springs Elementary — were all expected to remain closed Wednesday, school district officials said.
Danny Williamson sifts through the remaining debris of his home that was destroyed as flames swept up the canyon to his Anaheim Hills home on Via El Estribo.
Part of a second floor and the roof collapsed in this Anaheim Hills home destroyed by the Canyon 2 fire.
Anaheim firefighter Adriel Martinez rinses a hose as crews finish mop-up operations on Canyon Heights Drive, where numerous homes were destroyed by the Canyon 2 fire.
A water-dropping fire helicopter fighting the Canyon Fire 2 is framed by charred beams over a home that was destroyed on Via El Estribo.
Smoldering embers burn in Peters Canyon Regional Park in Orange.
A firefighter looks up at a water dropping helicopter circling the fire at Peters Canyon Regional Park in Orange.
The DC-10 makes a drop between Santiago Canyon Road and Cowan Heights trying to slow the spread of the Canyon Fire 2.
A firefighter douses hotspots inside a home destroyed by the Canyon Fire 2 in Anaheim Hills.
Alicia Walker takes her horse, Gustav, to a nearby arena in Orange because he refused to get into a trailer specially built for him.
A home burns on Canyon Heights Dr in Anaheim Hills after embers from the Canyon Fire 2 caused the roof to catch on fire.
A helicopter drops water on the Canyon Fire 2 as it approaches homes in Anaheim Hills.
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