California’s largest active wildfire on Friday exploded in size evening, growing rapidly amid bone-dry fuel and threatening thousands of homes as firefighters scrambled to meet the danger, as the blaze forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate.
Fueled by a crushing heat wave, the Park Fire — the most intense wildfire to hit the state this summer — has rapidly devoured nearly 97,000 hectares as of Friday night and is continuing to gain strength.
“This fire has been rapidly expanding 4,000 to 5,000 acres [1,619 to 2,023 hectares] an hour,” incident commander Billy See said at a news conference on Friday evening.
Photo: AP
For now it is “zero percent” controlled, despite the efforts of about 1,700 firefighters, with hundreds of additional resources ordered en route, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.
A total of 4,000 people have evacuated the towns of Cohasset and Forest Ranch, plus an additional 400 from the small city of Chico.
The blaze so far has destroyed 134 structures, authorities said.
Despite the structure losses, Butte County Fire Chief Garrett Sjolund said “many more have been saved.”
“It is a fire that is challenging our strategies, but we are finding opportunities to deploy our resources in successful ways,” Sjolund told reporters.
The fire was moving quickly north and east after igniting on Wednesday when authorities said a man pushed a burning car into a gully in Butte County’s Chico and then calmly blended in with others fleeing the scene.
On Thursday, police detained the 42-year-old man, who Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey identified as Ronnie Dean Stout II.
Ramsey said he would be held without bail until a court appearance next week.
Within hours, it had devastated a wide area there and in neighboring Tehama County. In just two days, the Park Fire has already become the 20th-largest fire in California history by land area.
“There’s a tremendous amount of fuel out there and it’s going to continue with this rapid pace,” Cal Fire incident commander Billy See said at a briefing.
The fire was on Friday afternoon advancing up to 21km2 an hour, he said.
The blaze has generated an enormous column of dense gray smoke, with gritty clouds akin to those of a violent storm now visible in nearby US states.
The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for the region through Friday night, predicting “critical” fire weather conditions.
“You have to be prepared to go,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea warned area residents.
“This county has seen time and time again where people have waited too long and they have lost their lives,” he added.
Some area residents, such as Julia Yarbough, have already seen their homes reduced to ashes.
“This is what’s left of my house,” she told US broadcaster CBS, showing the blackened and still smoking debris. “I must be in shock.”
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