California's largest wildfire, the Rocky Fire, tripled in size over the weekend. Burning in Lake, Yolo, and Colusa counties northwest of Sacramento, it has already consumed 54,000 acres and, as of Sunday, was only 5 percent contained. And it's just one of many: A total of 9,000 firefighters are combating over 21 major blazes throughout the state. Even as the fires turn deadly — one firefighter has been killed, and 12,000 evacuated — photos of the northern Californian fires have an unexpected, if terrifying, beauty.
"The behavior of this fire [is] unprecedented,” California's fire spokesman, Jason Shanley, told The Sacramento Bee. "It's jaw dropping to see some of the things it's doing." Jeva Lange
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Book reviews: ‘Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America’ and ‘How to End a Story: Collected Diaries, 1978–1998’Feature A political ‘witch hunt’ and Helen Garner’s journal entries
-
The backlash against ChatGPT's Studio Ghibli filterThe Explainer The studio's charming style has become part of a nebulous social media trend
-
Why are student loan borrowers falling behind on payments?Today's Big Question Delinquencies surge as the Trump administration upends the program
-
LA County reportedly set to pay $2.5 million in settlements over Kobe Bryant crash photosSpeed Read
-
The horrific scene at Kabul's airport, in 14 photos and videosSpeed Read
-
Report: Matt Gaetz's former wingman has given investigators thousands of photos, videos, and textsSpeed Read
-
FBI used 'provocative' photos of female staffers as bait in sex trafficking stings, report findsSpeed Read
-
Before Florida condo collapse, contractor took photos of damage in building's garageSpeed Read
-
Gun-toting protesters' dramatic stand inside Michigan's statehouse, in 5 photos and videosSpeed Read
-
L.A. County sheriff ordered 8 deputies to delete graphic photos of Kobe Bryant crashSpeed Read
-
Vanessa Bryant 'absolutely devastated' by report deputies shared photos of Kobe Bryant crashSpeed Read
