On Sunday, crews continued to fight a large fire in northern California, as authorities in the western United States warned of rising winds and midday temperatures.
The so-called Park Fire outside of Chico had burnt more than 357,000 acres (144,500 hectares) as of Sunday afternoon, according to Cal Fire incident commander Billy See, making it the seventh-largest fire in state history.
Progress was achieved Saturday amid light winds and cool weather, allowing firefighters to declare 12 percent of the flames under control, See said at a news conference.
However, he warned that as of Sunday, “we’re starting to get some solar heating, and we’re also getting increased winds in the upper canyons,” while another official observed “increased fire activity.”
The fire, which has prompted orders for approximately 4,200 people to evacuate their homes in Butte County, is raging across a primarily rural, mountainous area about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of the state capital Sacramento.
According to Mark Brunton, operations section chief, firefighters face a variety of problems, including tough terrain.
“We’re starting to see increased fire activity,” he told us.
Approximately 4,000 people are working on the fire, which has drawn aircraft and bulldozers to the scene. There have been no recorded casualties, but 67 structures have been damaged or destroyed, according to See.
The fire has scorched 53,000 acres in Butte County and 304,000 acres in neighboring Tehama County. The fire has created a massive column of dense gray smoke, which has also been blown over neighboring states.
On Thursday, police seized a 42-year-old man on suspicion of starting the fire by driving a burning automobile into a ravine.
Chico is only around 15 miles from Paradise, which was ravaged by a 2018 fire that was the deadliest in California history, killing 85 people.
Experts believe that climate change, exacerbated by human activity, is causing increasingly extreme weather events.
In Oregon, the Durkee Fire, which was started by a lightning strike earlier this month, has destroyed over 290,000 acres and is approximately half contained, according to the state’s wildfire response and recovery agency.
Wildfires in western Canada destroyed about a third of Jasper, a popular tourist destination before being contained on Sunday.