Nearly
30,000 people in northern California evacuated as raging wildfire spreads
Thompson
fire near Oroville destroys homes and vehicles as state simmers in brutal and
potentially historic heatwave
Gloria
Oladipo and Gabrielle Canon
Thu 4 Jul
2024 00.33 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/03/california-thompson-wildfire
Thousands of
homes are under threat from a raging wildfire that erupted in northern
California on Tuesday, as the state simmers in a brutal and potentially
historic heatwave.
Roughly
28,000 residents have been forced to evacuate as the Thompson fire quickly
swept across more than 3,500 acres (1,416 hectares) near the city of Oroville,
about an hour outside Sacramento, California’s capital.
Photojournalists
captured intense scenes on Tuesday night as the blaze tore through homes and
vehicles in the rural enclave in Butte county. Officials confirmed that at
least four structures have been destroyed.
More than
1,400 fire personnel from across the state have deployed to battle the blaze,
which was at 0% containment Wednesday afternoon. Eight injuries have been
confirmed by officials, at least half of whom were firefighters, as dangerously
high temperatures continue to threaten their health and safety.
Ed Fletcher,
a public information officer with CalFire said the agency goes to great lengths
to ensure firefighters have relief and rest but the already challenging work is
only made harder in extreme conditions.
“The
combination of events has presented a huge challenge for firefighters,” he
said, urging the public to take extra precautions to limit new fire starts that
can quickly spread crews thin, especially as temperatures spike.
“It’s a
tough thing to do,” he said. “You are asking people to hike up a mountain when
it’s 108F outside.”
The
California governor, Gavin Newsom, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday
to ensure resources are readily available to support response and recovery to
the fire.
Newsom said
on Tuesday that California had secured a fire management assistance grant
(FMAG) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to cover some of the
costs associated with firefighting. Earlier in the week, Newsom had activated
the state 0perations center to coordinate the response to wildfires and
excessive heat across the state.
The cause of
the fire is under investigation.
The blaze
comes as California was on high alert for wildfires, with high temperatures and
gusty winds exacerbating fire risks that rise on the Fourth of July, when hot
dry weather aligns with explosive celebrations. Across the country, more than
18,500 fires ignite on average due to Independence Day celebrations, whether
from errant fireworks or badly tended campfires.
Fire crews
are battling more than a dozen blazes that have erupted since Monday, as the
state braces for intensifying conditions. Fire activity and fire behavior this
week are likely to be extreme, and new ignitions may become difficult to
contain.
“It’s going
to be a challenge both day and night – so the message is prevention,” said the
Cal Fire deputy director Nick Schuler. The agency is at peak staffing levels to
prepare for what is expected to be an extremely busy week, extending into an
extremely busy summer.
As the
temperatures rise, so do the dangers.
Starting on
Wednesday, parts of the state will be subject to “extreme” levels of heat risk
– the highest level on the National Weather Service’s index. The extreme
conditions could last until Sunday or longer, authorities warned. In some
areas, life-threatening triple-digit temperatures could linger for longer than
a week.
Temperatures
in the state capital, Sacramento, were forecasted to reach between 105F and
115F (40.5C and 46.1C) – conditions that could last until Sunday.
“This is
going to be a severe, prolonged, potentially record-breaking heatwave that may
have large impacts for much of California,” said climate scientist Dr Daniel
Swain during a broadcast discussion of the heat event on Monday. The long
duration will only add to the potential impacts and intensity, especially
because little relief can be expected even after the sun sets. “It just isn’t
going to cool off – even at night,” Swain said.
The heat was
expected to linger through the holiday weekend, and hit inland areas like
Sacramento, the San Joaquin valley and the southern deserts the worst.
The torrid
conditions were being caused by a ridge of high pressure just off the west
coast and a separate ridge that spawned heat warnings and advisories from
Kansas and Missouri to the Gulf coast states, according to the National Weather
Service. By Wednesday morning, more than 129 million people across the country
were under heat alerts.
Extreme heat
is the most deadly type of weather-related disaster, experts say. The dangerous
weather conditions this week will pose health risks to large swaths of the
population, forecasters cautioned, in particular to people unable to access
cooling.
The
Associated Press contributed reporting
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