Photography

California wildfires

Originally published September 16, 2015 at 11:34 am Updated September 16, 2015 at 11:35 am

A news crew runs from flames southeast of Middletown, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, as winds kick up the Valley fire. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A news crew runs from flames southeast of Middletown, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, as winds kick up the Valley fire. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A firefighter runs to his fire truck southeast of Middletown, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, as winds kick up flames. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A firefighter runs to his fire truck southeast of Middletown, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, as winds kick up flames. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A Napa County Sheriffs officer drives by the Valley fire southeast of Middletown, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, as winds kick up the flames. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Cables are tangled in every direction near the wreckage of a burned home on in Cobb, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A firefighter with Los Angeles County checks for hot spots along highway 26 during the Butte Fire, Monday, Sept. 14, 2015 in Mokelumne Hill, Calif. (Lezlie Sterling/Sacramento Bee/TNS)

Bonnie Albertson searches for her family’s cat, Blue, in the rubble of their home of 30 years after it was destroyed in the Valley Fire in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Debra Kenyon chokes back tears as she fears her home in Mokelumne Hill was burned down by the Butte Fire while sleeping in a tent at the evacuation center at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds on Sept. 14, 2015 in Angels Camp. (Lezlie Sterling/Sacramento Bee/TNS)

Jay Albertson takes a moment as he views his burned down home of 30 years after it was destroyed by the Valley Fire in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. “This is a chapter in our lives that is gone forever,” he said. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A fire truck southeast of Middletown, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015, as winds kick up flames. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

PG&E crews replace power poles in the burned out area of Mokelumne Hill following the Butte fire in Calaveras County on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015. (Randall Benton/Sacramento Bee/TNS)

Kay Ashley embraces her friend Najma Fichthorn at the Red Cross evacuation center on Sept. 15, 2015 in Calistoga, Calif. Both lost their homes, cars and possessions in the Valley Fire. Fichthorn, a children’s book illustrator said, “I lost everything into a pile of ash – art, books, computers, photos. I feel my soul has been taken away. This is a huge spiritual test.” (Don Bartletti/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A tree fire continues to burn in the Anderson Springs community Tuesday morning, Sept. 15, 2015 after the Valley fire roared through the area near Santa Rosa, Calif. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

The sun rises Tuesday morning morning along Highway 175 in Middletown after the Valley fire roared through the area on Sept. 15, 2015 near Santa Rosa, Calif. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Burned cars sit in the Anderson Springs community Tuesday morning, Sept. 15, 2015 after the Valley fire roared through the area near Santa Rosa, Calif. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

A heli-tanker makes a water drop on a hot spot near a home close to Hobergs and Highway 175 near the origin of the Valley fire on Monday, Sept. 14, 2015, in Lake County, Calif. (Randy Pench/Sacramento Bee/TNS)

Laura Nichols, 44, walks through the burned-out property of her best friend in Middletown on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015, in Lake County, Calif. Her friend, Lisa Kaplan, a local artist, lived in the home for 15 years. (Randy Pench/Sacramento Bee/TNS)

Dave Benham, of Santa Cruz, sleeps in the back of the truck at the evacuation center at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds at Angels Camp after coming to help family displaced at the Butte Fire, Monday, Sept. 14, 2015. (Lezlie Sterling/Sacramento Bee/TNS)

A firefighter walks from a smoke cloud along Highway 175 near the origin of the Lake fire on Monday, Sept. 14, 2015, in Lake County, Calif. (Randy Pench/Sacramento Bee/TNS)

A ferocious wildfire devastates parts of California.

By

Courtney Riffkin

Seattle Times photo staff

Courtney Riffkin: 206-464-2203 or criffkin@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @SeaTimesPhoto.