Paradise burns: Before and after images show fury of California fires

Updated

Satellite images show what little is left of Paradise in California, where hundreds of people are still missing after devastating fires.

From one end to the other, the town of Paradise was ravaged this month by the Camp Fire — the worst in the state's history.

Near the northern end of town, just off Clark Road, is Kilcrease Circle. Satellite images captured on November 17 and released by DigitalGlobe show that out of dozens of houses in this pocket, only a handful are still standing.

On the other side of Clark Road is the fan-like structure of the Cypress Meadows Post-Acute care facility. When you look it up online, the latest message is bittersweet:

"It is with broken hearts that we share that our facility was one of the many buildings that burned in the Camp Fire. We are thrilled to report that due to the bravery of our staff, each and every patient was evacuated safely. And, though the majority of our team members lost their homes, we are all safe and well."

The message doesn't tell what the nursing home staff went through on the day the fire swept towards them, when staying wasn't an option but evacuating dozens of vulnerable patients through the flames was also a terrifying prospect.

Further east is the Children's Community School, which is on another of the three main roads running north-south through Paradise. One of the school's two main buildings was burnt down, and the Beyond Fitness gym next door was completely destroyed. Most of the homes in that area are now gone too.

South of the school is the Ridgewood Mobile Home Park, where the fire authorities in California say not one home is still standing.

Going back across to Clark Road, moving south through the town, there are two shopping centres.

The satellite images show they met very different fates.

Paradise Plaza appears unaffected, even though most of the structures around it — including many homes — were destroyed.

But Old Town Plaza is now just a burnt-out shell.

And at the southern end of town, just as Clark Road winds its way out of Paradise, another mobile home park — Pinecrest — was reduced to ruins.

While the satellite imagery reveals in scary detail the extent of the fire, its fury is even more evident from the ground.

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Topics: fires, united-states

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