Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate as wildfires spread across northern California amid a heat wave.
About 28,000 people were told to leave their homes after the Thompson Fire broke out this week, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) reported.
Dangerously hot, dry and windy weather is expected to continue, with the National Weather Service predicting temperatures could reach 118 degrees Fahrenheit (47 degrees Celsius) in some areas early next week.
The city of Oroville, near where the Thompson Fire originated, has canceled its Fourth of July fireworks celebrations, with officials warning residents not to use fireworks to avoid the risk of starting a fire.
“The last thing we need is someone buying fireworks from the local firehouse going out and doing something stupid,” said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea. “Don’t be stupid and start a fire and give us more. question.”
Honea said four fires had broken out in the area in the past few weeks and warned the danger was far from over.
“It’s been a bad fire season,” he added.
California’s fire season recently began and typically lasts until October. Fires in the state have increased in size and intensity in recent years.
From 1996 to 2021, the area burned in summer in northern and central California increased fivefold compared with the previous 24 years, scientist attribution to human-caused climate change.
The National Weather Service has issued heat and red flag warnings across the state this week, indicating hot, dry and windy conditions. The agency said “dangerous” temperatures pose a significant to extreme risk of heat stress or illness.
Since the last week of June, about two dozen fires have burned across the state, burning more than 10 acres, according to Cal Fire. The largest one is in Fresno County and covers nearly 14,000 acres.
No one was killed and 74 buildings were destroyed or damaged across the state.
California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Butte County to provide resources.
The Thompson Fire broke out Tuesday in Oroville, about 70 miles north of the state capital of Sacramento. The city is about 20 miles from Paradise, which was destroyed in the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people. Over the next few years, fires again struck the area.
As of Wednesday, 28,000 people in the Oroville area had been ordered to evacuate, Cal Fire local spokesman Rick Carhart told the San Francisco Chronicle. As of Thursday, the fire was about 3,500 acres but only 7% contained.
Brittanie Hardie is a Louisiana native and recent transplant to California; told the San Francisco Chronicle She was not home when her girlfriend evacuated their apartment, and she had nothing but the clothes she was wearing.
“I knew the wildfires in California were serious, but I didn’t know it was this serious,” Hardy told the newspaper.
Oroville City Council member Sean Weber posted a video on Facebook Wednesday showing scorched and smoking hillsides on both sides of roads in the area. Firefighters “did an incredible job protecting us from further damage,” he wrote.
The California State Parks system said agencies responding to the fire “along with employees of families displaced by evacuations are working tirelessly to assist the Lake Oroville community.”
