Screams, sirens, and a sky glowing orange as fire raced faster than fear. Families fled with nothing but what they could carry, watching streets vanish behind walls of flame. Homes and histories disappeared in minutes, leaving shock where certainty once li…Continues
By morning, the devastation felt unreal. Charred foundations marked where kitchens and bedrooms had been, and parents searched the ash for anything that survived—a toy, a photo, a wedding ring. Silence settled heavy over neighborhoods, broken only by generators and quiet voices in shelters.
Grief arrived alongside exhaustion. People stood numb, drinking donated coffee, trying to understand how a lifetime could be reduced to smoke so quickly. Officials warned that the hardest days were still ahead, as loss turned into long recovery.