REDDING, CALIFORNIA
MARK RALSTON/AFP/GETTY
A back burn is contained on July 31 as the devastating Carr Fire roars toward nearby Douglas City and Lewiston. Since igniting on July 23, Carr has killed six people, burned over 126,000 acres, destroyed more than 1,000 homes and melted boats on Whiskeytown Lake. On August 2, an unprecedented ire tornado (a rotating column of combustion gases) ripped through the area, registering winds of 143 miles per hour—an event Governor Jerry Brown described as “unprecedented.”