Photos capture fury and peril of the California fires

California’s summer fires continue with the Mendocino Complex Fire becoming the largest blaze in state history, the Shasta County Carr Fire poised to soon become the Golden State’s fifth most destructive burn, and the seemingly endless Ferguson Fire threatening state treasures in Yosemite National Park.

In all, Cal Fire reports that it’s responding to 24 fires statewide as of Tuesday afternoon plus an additional fire just over the Oregon border, with no end in sight.

Meanwhile, those living, traveling, and reporting near the threatened areas, including the tens of thousands still evacuated from their homes, are communicating harrowing images via social media—some of them too unreal to be believed.

The fires vary in containment percentages, and they preface the dangers possibly in store for California as it heads deeper into fire season.

Here’s just a brief selection of the vivid and powerful scenes of peril transmitted from fires al over the state in the past week, with thousands more logged from witnesses statewide:

Photo by NASA via AP

Photo by AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Photo by AP Photo/Noah Berger

Photo by AP Photo/Noah Berger

We’ll continue to bring updates on fire conditions across Northern California as the fire season continues.

• Fire Now Largest In State History [Curbed SF]
• Carr Fire Death Toll Rises [Curbed SF]
• Ferguson Fire Closes Yosemite [Curbed SF]
• Cal Fire Incident Map [Cal Fire]