close
close

California’s largest wildfire explodes in size

California’s largest active fire has grown to enormous proportions and is rapidly spreading through bone-dry fuel. Thousands of homes are under threat as firefighters race to contain the danger.

The Park Fire’s intensity and dramatic scale led firefighters to draw uneasy comparisons to the massive Camp Fire, which raged out of control in nearby Paradise in 2018, killing 85 people and burning down 11,000 homes.

More than 130 buildings have been destroyed by the fire and thousands more are threatened as evacuations have been ordered in four provinces.

The fire was about 480 square miles (1,250 square kilometers) in size on Friday and was moving rapidly north and east after igniting on Wednesday. Authorities said a man pushed a burning car into a ravine in Chico and then calmly disappeared among others fleeing the scene.

“There is a tremendous amount of fuel out there and it will continue to do so at this rapid pace,” said Cal Fire Chief Billy See.

A fire truck battles the Park Fire in CaliforniaA fire truck battles the Park Fire in California

Friday’s Park Fire was one of more than 110 active fires in the U.S. (AP PHOTO)

According to him, the fire reached a speed of 20 square kilometers per hour on Friday.

Communities elsewhere in the western U.S. and Canada were hit by a rapidly spreading fire sparked by lightning. People fled along fire-ringed roads in rural Idaho, as another blaze forced evacuations in eastern Washington.

In eastern Oregon, a pilot was found dead in a small tanker plane that crashed while battling one of the many wildfires spreading across several western states.

More than 110 active fires were burning across the U.S. on Friday, covering more than 2,800 square miles (7,250 square kilometers), according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Some lightning strikes were caused by weather. Climate change is making lightning strikes more frequent, while the region is experiencing record temperatures and bone-dry conditions.

The most damage was inflicted on Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies, where a rapidly spreading forest fire forced 25,000 people to flee and destroyed the park’s namesake town, which is a World Heritage Site.

Oregon is being ravaged by the largest active fire in the United States, the Durkee Fire. Together with the Cow Fire, this fire has burned nearly 600 square miles.

The eruption remains unpredictable and was only 20 percent contained on Friday, according to government website InciWeb.