5 shocking photos that put the California wildfires in perspective

Santa Rosa, California, after the flames.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Northern California is burning, leaving some neighborhoods as nothing more than charred, apocalyptic-seeming wastelands.

So far at least 31 people have died in the wind-fueled wildfires, which are sweeping through wine country just north of San Francisco. Still hundreds more are missing. Once-vibrant neighborhoods like Coffey Park in Santa Rosa have been incinerated, with nothing but ashes left where hundreds of suburban homes once stood. More than 2,800 homes are gone, Santa Rosa city officials said Thursday, as well as some 410,000 square feet of commercial space.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Sign up
Explore More
Kelly Gonsalves

Kelly Gonsalves is a sex and culture writer exploring love, lust, identity, and feminism. Her work has appeared at Bustle, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and more, and she previously worked as an associate editor for The Week. She's obsessed with badass ladies doing badass things, wellness movements, and very bad rom-coms.