The New York Times shared a staggering look at the devastation left behind in the Coffey Park neighborhood of Santa Rosa. Over the course of a few days, the Tubbs fire, which is now being heralded as the deadliest fire of the 22 currently raging throughout the state, destroyed an estimated 1,800 structures in Santa Rosa. They point out that this is more than triple the official estimate shared by Cal Fire officials, who say that 576 buildings have been destroyed in their incident report from last night.
Both the NYT and CBS News have shared these haunting satellite images which use infrared light to highlight the burned out areas (grey-green), contrasting them with still healthy plant matter (bright red).
Satellite photos show how entire neighborhoods in the Santa Rosa area are reduced to ashes. #CaliforniaWildfires https://t.co/Ebq6TuFJaE pic.twitter.com/XLG0i2wFQW
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) October 12, 2017
The Chronicle also spoke with Captain Will Martin of the National Guard as they did a flyover of Coffey Park. Capt. Martin commented on the destruction, saying, "I’ve seen a lot of wildfires. I've been with the National Guard for a long time now, but to see entire neighborhoods burnt to ashes is shocking. ... The devastation is striking."
Read all of SFist's coverage of the North Bay wildfires here.