A massive wildfire in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range has become the state’s largest this year, destroying buildings and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate in an area already hit by a series of devastating wildfires in recent years.
The fire broke out Wednesday on the outskirts of Chico, a college town of about 110,000 people in the Sacramento Valley. The blaze, known as the Park Fire, had burned more than 160,000 acres (64,700 hectares) in Butte and Tehama counties by Friday morning. Fanned by high winds and high temperatures, the blaze was particularly ferocious, breaking above the tree line as it grew.
Firefighters had managed to contain the blaze by 3 percent by Thursday night, but had made no progress by Friday as it continued to grow, according to Cal Fire. At least two people were injured, more than 130 buildings were damaged, and another 4,000 were at risk, the agency said.
“Due to dry fuels, hot weather, low humidity and wind, the fire quickly began to outpace our firefighting resources,” Butte County Sheriff Corey Honea said late Thursday.
Evacuation orders were issued for about 4,000 residents in unincorporated areas of Butte County and 400 residents in Chico, he said.
The fire broke out in Chico’s Upper Bidwell Park, a popular area for residents to hike and swim. As the fire broke out, people lined the edge of town to watch the flames rise. Heavy smoke billowed and the sounds of helicopters and planes hummed overhead as they tried to fight the fire.
A 42-year-old California man was arrested Thursday on suspicion of driving a burning car into a ditch and starting the fire. Authorities said the car fell about 60 feet (18 meters) down an embankment and completely burned out.
By Thursday, firefighters were focused on protecting the community of Forest Ranch, a rural hamlet of about 1,700 people about 15 miles from Chico. All residents of Forest Ranch were ordered to evacuate due to “extremely dangerous fire conditions,” according to officials.
Over the scanner, firefighters could be heard trying to help residents trapped in the flames and struggling to escape, including a duo with five horses.
“We must be prepared to deploy,” Honea told residents, “We have seen too many incidents in this county where people have waited too long and lost their lives.”
The fire has put the entire region on edge and brought back painful memories: About six years ago, tens of thousands of people fled to Chico when the Camp Fire, California’s deadliest wildfire, destroyed the nearby town of Paradise and killed 85 people. In 2020, the North Complex Fire killed 16 people in Butte County.
In 2021, the Dixie Fire burned nearly 1 million acres and devastated the nearby town of Greenville, and earlier this year, the Thompson Fire near Oroville destroyed dozens of structures.
In just three days, the Park Fire has outgrown the Camp Fire, and evacuation warnings are now in place for parts of Paradise and Magalia, which were also hit hard by the 2018 fires.
As a heatwave continues with record temperatures, firefighters across North America are working hard to contain other wildfires burning across the region, including in states like Washington and Oregon and parts of Canada.
The Darke Fire in Oregon, which began July 17 and quickly became the largest fire in the United States, was 20% contained as of Friday, according to officials. More than 403,200 acres (163,000 hectares) have burned so far.
Oregon officials said Friday morning that a firefighting plane was reported missing while fighting a blaze known as the Falls Fire near Seneca in the Malheur National Forest.
In Idaho, a lightning-triggered wildfire led to the evacuation of several communities, officials said Friday. Several buildings were destroyed and the entire town of Juliaetta, population just over 600 people about 27 miles southeast of the University of Idaho’s Moscow campus, was evacuated, as were several communities near the Clearwater River.
Videos posted on social media showed a man driving past burning buildings and trees fleeing Giulietta as a tunnel of smoke rose above the road.
As of Friday morning, parts of California, Oregon, Montana, Nebraska and Idaho were under red flag warnings from the National Weather Service, meaning dangerous fire weather conditions are occurring now or soon.
Air quality warnings have been issued in Arizona, Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Nebraska due to wildfire smoke, and wildfire smoke has been billowing into the skies in parts of Colorado this week, though conditions appeared to be improving as of Friday.
The National Weather Service also issued a fire weather watch — meaning dangerous fire weather conditions are possible — for parts of Utah starting Saturday.
The National Joint Fire Center reported that 96 large wildfires were under control across the country as of Friday morning. These fires had burned more than 1.6 million acres by Thursday, with many in the Northwestern U.S. exhibiting “extreme fire behavior.”
Also in Canada, fast-spreading wildfires have ravaged the town of Jasper in Jasper National Park in the Rocky Mountains, forcing at least 25,000 people to evacuate.
Anasuya Basil, 65, of Forest Ranch, said when the fire first started Wednesday she didn’t think it would reach her.
But by Thursday afternoon, smoke obscured the sun and turned everything orange, she said, and soon after, she and her neighbors received mandatory evacuations.
Basil, a craniosacral therapist, quickly packed his suitcase, picked up his cat, did a quick tidy around the house, loaded his car and headed out.
“It was really hard to get out,” Basile said. “The road was very narrow, windy and bumpy.” She added that “the sky was dark with smoke,” but luckily nothing around them was burning.
She arrived at a friend’s house outside the evacuation zone about an hour and a half later. Basil said she wasn’t sure how long they would remain evacuated for, but expected it to be between one and three weeks.
“I think it’s a 50/50 chance that my house will survive,” she said. “I live very close to the fire line and this is a very explosive fire and it’s hot and windy so anything could happen.”
Basil has lived in the area for 20 years and is one of several residents who have had to evacuate frequently due to wildfires during that time, including for 11 days during the Camp Fire.
As she waits to be able to return home, Basil says she keeps in close contact with others in her community through various Facebook groups. “We are a tight-knit community,” she said, adding that people support each other, especially when incidents like this happen.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
