Some called it a scene out of the apocalypse. San Francisco Bay Area residents woke up to streets blanketed with ash and a surreal amber sky. It looked like an Instagram filter.
Smoke from several Northern California fires drifted into the Bay Area over the weekend and created a burnt orange hue across the city of San Francisco, the East Bay and even farther north.
Ash covered cars and the streets like a massive snowfall. It was a reminder of the hazy pink skies and masses of masks after strong winds carried smoke from October’s deadly wildfires into the Bay Area. Some said the thick, blazing yellow sky looked eerie, like a scene out of a dystopian film.
“The amber sky from the Yolo County fire feels like someone turned on iOS Night Shift in the Bay Area,” Jon Park, a San Francisco resident wrote on Twitter.
The Yolo County fire doubled in size overnight, officials said. It devastated close to 22,000 acres by Sunday morning, according to Cal Fire.
There are now mandatory evacuations in place for residents between County Road 63 and County Road 76, west of Highway 16, as well as the Murphy Ranch area. Additional evacuations were ordered for north of Highway 128, south of County Road 23, east of Berryessa Knoxville Road and west of County Road 89. An evacuation center has been opened at Guinda Grange Hall.
The Pawnee Fire in Lake County remains 73 percent contained as of Sunday morning. There have been 22 structures destroyed, but there have been no reports of deaths.
The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management issued an air quality advisory on Sunday. The elderly, children, and people with heart or lung conditions were advised to wear masks and avoid extensive exposure to the smoke.
California continues to see unprecedented destruction from these wildfires. Do you think there will be a massive exodus?