Viewfinder: Surveying the Wildfire Wreckage in California

Author:: Pacific Standard Staff
Updated:: Jan 9, 2018
Original:: Oct 11, 2017

A woman looks at the wreckage of her burned home in Santa Rosa, California, on October 10th, 2017. Firefighters were battling 17 large wildfires, which have left at least 13 people dead, thousands homeless, and ravaged the state's wine country. — A woman looks at the wreckage of her burned home in Santa Rosa, California, on October 10th, 2017. Firefighters were battling 17 large wildfires, which have left at least 13 people dead, thousands homeless, and ravaged the state's wine country.
(Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)

An aircraft drops fire retardant over a brush fire in the Angeles National Forest near Mt. Wilson Observatory, northeast of Los Angeles, on October 17th, 2017.

An aircraft drops fire retardant over a brush fire in the Angeles National Forest on October 17th, 2017.

An aerial view shows damage caused by a wildfire near the village of Mati, near Athens, on July 24th, 2018. More than 70 have died and 170 have been injured in wildfires ravaging woodland and villages in the Athens region. The death toll soared with a Red Cross official reporting the discovery of 26 bodies in the courtyard of a villa at the seaside resort of Mati.

An aerial view shows damage caused by a wildfire near the village of Mati, near Athens, on July 24th, 2018.

A firefighter cuts brush at the Thomas Fire on December 7th, 2017, near Fillmore, California. Strong Santa Ana winds are pushing multiple wildfires across the region, expanding across tens of thousands of acres and destroying hundreds of homes and structures.

A firefighter cuts brush at the Thomas Fire on December 7th, 2017, near Fillmore, California.

A firefighter extinguishes flames while battling the Carr fire on July 30th, 2018, near Redding, California.

California climatologists fact-check the president's tweets on fire and water.

A firefighter tackles a wildfire close to the village of Pucarica in Abrantes on August 10th, 2017. Nearly 3,000 firefighters battled 80 wildfires raging across Portugal civil protection officials said, as the return of scorching heat put an end to the respite after a spate of blazes. Some 650 firefighters backed by nine water-dropping aircraft and over 200 vehicles were at the scene of the biggest blaze in a forest near the central town of Abrantes.

A firefighter tackles a wildfire close to the village of Pucarica in Abrantes on August 10th, 2017.

A plume of smoke is seen from Ojai, California, as the Thomas Fire grows and advances toward seaside communities on December 10th, 2017, near Carpinteria, California.

A plume of smoke is seen from Ojai, California, as the Thomas Fire grows and advances toward seaside communities on December 10th, 2017, near Carpinteria, California.