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Following a gender reveal party that involved pyrotechnics, a severe series of wildfires has gripped the West Coast. Wednesday morning, people in the Bay Area awoke to an orange sky, “like a scene from Mars”. As people scramble for the best bottled water to throw in a bug-out bag, civilians are being evacuated along the path of the flames.
California fire departments are doing their best to contain the raging wildfires. However, unfavorable conditions like dry foliage and high wind speeds are making this a tall order. People in the region have noted the eerie orange glow in the air.
Thick smoke and fog have wrapped parts of California in perpetual pre-dawn glow, making midday look like 6 AM. Coupled with the coronavirus pandemic and the tense feeling in the world at large, the Bay Area’s unearthly glow looks like a bad omen.
The rapidly-spreading wildfire has been aided by the historic heat and dry air the state is experiencing this year. While the East Coast is enjoying milder weather, California is in the grips of a heat wave in conjunction with wildfires.
This marks yet another year with the West Coast battling wildfires in late summer and early autumn. People in California have become weary of the constant five-alarm fires.
Fires this year have been even more intense than past years’ blazes. Over 2.3 million acres of land in the state have been burned, representing twenty times more than 2019’s flames.
Flames have even crept as far north as Oregon, where they all but obliterated a small town called Malden.
For many, the images of the Bay Area wreathed in an orange glow called to mind religious depictions of the end of days. Many drew parallels to apocalypse films, and pointed to the bizarre series of disasters throughout the year. For many, it feels like the end is drawing near.
left: san francisco/bay area rn right: blade runner 2049 pic.twitter.com/52JPRuHIBU
— anaïs (@anaisisdrawing) September 9, 2020
Thankfully, fire-fighting crews are battling back the blaze, while doctors continue to search for treatments and vaccines for the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, these facts are cold comfort in the face of an implacable blaze and a pandemic. Many people still can’t resume their normal lives, wildfire notwithstanding.
“This morning I woke up at 7 a.m. and thought my alarm was wrong because it was so dark,” Kelly Groth, a San Francisco resident, told reporters. “I didn’t smell smoke but had a feeling the fires were affecting the atmosphere. I pulled back my curtains to see the sky was dark orange and it felt so apocalyptic. I’ve lived in the Bay Area my whole life and never seen anything like it.”
