Some 26,000 people were ordered to evacuate in Northern California as a massive wildfire raged out of control Wednesday amid a dangerous heat wave in the western United States.
The Thompson Fire has burned about 3,000 acres since it started Tuesday, according to state officials. Authorities have issued evacuation orders for about 26,000 people.
Firefighters have cordoned off roads to prevent the flames from reaching homes, while the blaze generated a huge column of smoke that could be seen from space.
The flames are burning mainly north of the community of Oroville in Butte County, which is home to about 20,000 residents.
The town is about 70 miles north of Sacramento, California’s capital, and just 24 miles from Paradise, a community devastated in 2018 by the devastating Camp Fire, the deadliest in the state’s history, with some 85 deaths.
Butte County
“Butte County has been under a red alert since last night and will remain so until tomorrow night,” local fire chief Garrett Sjolund said Wednesday.
An additional concern for authorities is the celebration of July 4, the United States Independence Day, which traditionally features fireworks. Due to the advance of the flames, the celebration has been cancelled in the county.
“This is a bad fire season,” said Butte Sheriff Kory Honea.
“The last thing we need is someone who bought fireworks going out and doing something stupid,” said Honea, who noted that the northern region faced four fires in two weeks.
Firefighters arrive as reinforcements
Some 1,400 firefighters are fighting the blaze on the ground with heavy machinery and from the air with planes and helicopters.
Sjolund said that equipment and personnel are arriving from other regions to reinforce operations.
“The conditions in our county this summer are very different than what we have experienced the last two summers. The fuels are very dense. The brush is dry, and as you can see, any wind will move a fire very quickly,” Sjolund said.
Some eight people, including civilians and firefighters, have been injured so far, while AFP teams on the ground have seen charred houses and vehicles.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency, while the San Francisco weather service issued alerts for several northern California towns due to the scorching heat wave that has seen temperatures reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius) in some regions.
“Nearly 150 million people are under heat wave warnings across 21 states as of this afternoon,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said Wednesday.