California's largest wildfire erupted late Friday, spreading rapidly amid dry fuels and threatening thousands of homes as firefighters struggled to contain the danger.
The severity and spread of the Park Fire has drawn firefighters’ unflattering comparisons to the massive Camp Fire that raged out of control in nearby Paradise in 2018, killing 85 people and burning 11,000 homes.
The wildfire has destroyed more than 130 buildings and forced the evacuation of thousands in four counties: Butte, Plumas, Tehama and Shasta. The blaze had burned 480 square miles (1,243 square kilometers) late Friday and was moving quickly north and east after bursting into flames Wednesday. Authorities said a man pushed a burning vehicle into a ravine in Chico and then fled with others.
“There’s a huge amount of fuel out there and it’s going to continue to spread rapidly,” California Fire Commissioner Billy Sea said at a news conference. He said the fire was growing at 8 square miles (21 square kilometers) an hour Friday afternoon.
Lassen Volcanic National Park officials evacuated staff from Mineral, a community of about 120 people that is home to the park headquarters, as the fire spread north onto Highway 36 and moved east into the park.
Other communities in the western United States and Canada were locked down Friday by fast-growing wildfires sparked by lightning, forcing people to evacuate on burning roads in rural Idaho, and new wildfires forced evacuations in eastern Washington state.
In eastern Oregon, a pilot was found dead in a small tanker plane that crashed while battling multiple wildfires raging across several western states.
More than 110 wildfires were burning across the United States on Friday, covering 2,800 square miles (7,250 square kilometers), the National Interagency Fire Center said, some of them weather-driven. Climate change is bringing more lightning as the region grapples with record heat and dry conditions.
A wildfire in eastern Washington state has destroyed three homes and five outbuildings near Tyler, which were evacuated Friday afternoon, said Ryan Rodrak, spokesman for the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Firefighters have contained the Columbia River Fire in Spokane County to about a half-square mile (1.3 square kilometers), he said.
In Chico, California, Carly Parker was among hundreds who had to evacuate their homes as a wildfire in a state park neared its end. Parker had decided to leave her Forest Ranch home with her family when the fire started across the street. She had previously been forced to leave two homes because of the fires, and she said she had little hope that her home would not be damaged.
“I think I felt like I was in danger because the police came to our house because we signed up for an evacuation warning, and they rushed to the car after telling us we had to evacuate ourselves and they weren’t coming back,” said Parker, a mother of five.
Authorities say Ronnie Dean Stout, 42, of Chico, was arrested Thursday morning in connection with the fire and is being held without bail pending an arraignment Monday. However, an email sent to the district attorney asking if the suspect has legal representation or someone who could comment on his behalf was not immediately returned.
Firefighters are working to put out another wildfire burning in the Plumas National Forest near the California-Nevada border, said Adrian Freeman, a spokeswoman for the Forest Service. More than 1,000 residents who were evacuated Friday from the Gold Complex Fire, which was sparked by lightning, were some of the people who were working to put out the fire in the park.
“From the evidence we have from the (Parkland) fires to the west, some of these fires are spreading rapidly and at a pace that is unimaginable,” Tim Hike, incident commander for the Gold Complex fire, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Reno, said Friday.
Sherry Alpers, who was evacuated from Forest Ranch, fled with her 12 small dogs and decided to stay in her car outside a Red Cross shelter in Chico after learning that no animals would be allowed inside. She decided not to go to another shelter after learning that the dogs would be kept in cages, as her dogs often ran free at her home.
Alpers said she doesn't know if her house is on fire, but she said as long as her dog is safe, she doesn't care about the items.
“I’m a little worried, but not too much,” she said. “If it goes away, it goes away.”
Brian Boles remains in his vehicle outside the shelter with his dog, Diamond. He said he doesn't know if his mobile home is still standing.
Bowles said he has a $100 gift card from United Way that he gave to those in need.
“Now the question is, do I get a comfortable motel room for the night or do I fill up my car with gas and sleep here,” he said. “It’s a tough decision.”
In Oregon, Grant County search and rescue crews found a small, single-engine firefighting plane early Friday that went missing while battling the 219-square-mile (567-square-kilometer) Falls Fire burning near Seneca and the Malheur National Forest. The pilot was killed, said Lisa Clark, Bureau of Land Management information officer. No one was on board the plane at the contracting office when it crashed in a steep forested area.
The most damaging fire so far has been in Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies, where a fast-moving wildfire has forced more than 25,000 people to evacuate and damaged the World Heritage-listed town that gives the park its name.
In Idaho, lightning sparked a wildfire that spread quickly and forced the evacuation of several communities. The fire had burned about 80 square miles (50 square kilometers) by Friday afternoon.
A video posted on social media showed a man saying he heard an explosion as he fled from the town of Julietta, about 27 miles (43 kilometers) southeast of the University of Idaho in Moscow. The town of just over 600 people was evacuated Thursday before the fire spread, along with several other communities near the Clearwater River and the Nez Perce salmon farm.
Officials said Friday morning that there was no estimate for the number of buildings burned in Idaho, and there was no information on damage to urban communities.
Oregon continues to be engulfed by some of the most intense wildfires in the United States, with the Durkee Fire burning, which along with the Cow Fire has burned nearly 1,630 square kilometers (600 square miles), remains unpredictable and was only about 20 percent contained as of Friday, according to government website InciWeb.
More than 27,000 wildfires have burned more than 15,000 square kilometres (15,000 square miles) in the United States so far this year, and in Canada, more than 22,800 square kilometres (12,000 square miles) have burned in more than 3,700 locations, according to the National Wildfire Situation Report released Wednesday.
