Incendi in California, 9 settembre 2020 — California wildfires, 9 September 2020 — Cars cross the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco under an orange sky at noon, on 9 September 2020 © Harold Postic/Afp/Getty Images

On the morning of 9 September, the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley, in California, woke up to an apocalyptic atmosphere. The sky turned orange, swallowed by a thick haze of smoke and ash caused by the wildfires that, hundreds of kilometres away, have been destroying thousands upon thousands of hectares across the country for weeks.

The enormous smoke clouds caused by the wildfires have also brought about, among other things, the longest air quality alert, with air declared unhealthy, in the San Francisco Bay Area, amounting to 25 consecutive days during which people were advised to avoid outdoor air. The previous record, as local air quality management spokesperson Erin DeMerritt recalls, was set in 2018, with 14 consecutive days, during the Camp Fire. The clouds of ash and smoke are carried by hot winds, which have driven temperatures to a record of nearly 45 degrees in the Los Angeles area.

Air quality across the Bay Area this morning is being reported as "unhealthy" or "very unhealthy."

Check conditions near you on our interactive map, which shows fire locations, wind direction/speed and has real-time data from local sensors. https://t.co/CQXXiwr7ld pic.twitter.com/MXzXS5saix
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) September 10, 2020

California wildfires, 800,000 hectares of forest destroyed

The terrifying wildfires that have been hitting California for weeks have now destroyed 800,000 hectares of forest. That is eight thousand square kilometres: more than six times the area of the city of Rome. This is the worst figure recorded in over 30 years. And, above all, it is still a provisional toll, as the fires have not yet been brought under control.

California's fiery skies, as the wildfires rage on