Raging Wildfire Rips Through Small California Town, Leaving Much Of It In Ashes [Images + Video]

A wildfire tore through the town of Greenville in northern California on Wednesday, destroying homes and businesses.

The Dixie Fire, which has been raging for three weeks in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, arrived at the town late Wednesday evening and burned down a gas station, a hotel, and a bar, along with many other structures in downtown Greenville, the Associated Press reported. The fire had already burned over 435 square miles and dozens of homes before reaching the town, according to the AP.

”Greenville did suffer fairly heavy losses in homes and structures. We won’t know the extent until it’s safe to get in there,” Rick Carhart, public information officer at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Carhart said damage assessment teams would need to examine the town before the scope of the devastation could be understood.

“From my understanding we lost everything in Greenville,” resident Teresa Clark told local newspaper The Paradise Post.

Few structures remain standing in the town, according to images posted on social media.

“Right now we can’t protect the structures because we’re trying to get people out of here,” Plumas National Forest Operations Chief Jake Cagle said in a briefing Wednesday.

CAL FIRE had issued evacuation orders to Greenville residents as well as those in neighboring towns throughout Plumas County and Butte County on Monday. Firefighters had been battling the blaze for weeks, attempting to create barriers around the fire to prevent it reaching towns.

“We did everything we could,” CAL FIRE spokesman Mitch Matlow told the AP. “Sometimes it’s just not enough.”