Just south of the devastation in Paradise, California, Red Cross volunteer Peter Prowe says it's not so much what he sees that surprises him, but what he cannot see.
"Basically the sun is out but you can barely see the sun, it's just haze and just smoke everywhere," he said. "Your visibility every day is a little different. Today is not so good."
The West Warwick resident spoke to Eyewitness News on the phone Wednesday, after he got home from a long shift at a shelter in Oroville, California.
The so-called Camp Fire has displaced tens of thousands of people, and Prowe is making sure that residents have a safe place to sleep and enough food to eat. He said it's crucial that they also check on people's physical and mental health, so he's working to "provide some health services such as replacing lost medications, or try to get some eyeglasses and more importantly, emotional support."