(Los Angeles) California firefighters are battling the state’s first “megafire” of the year Thursday, a wildfire that has forced the evacuation of more than 3,500 people and is spreading rapidly.
The Park Fire broke out Wednesday afternoon in the northern Golden State, the latest day of a new heat wave that has parched the region. In just over 24 hours, it has already ravaged more than 300 miles2 vegetation and reached the stage of “megafire”.
The fire has forced the evacuation of “more than 3,500 people,” according to a statement from California Governor Gavin Newsom. The flames are particularly threatening the small town of Chico, about a three-hour drive north of San Francisco.
PHOTO FRED GREAVES, REUTERS
The flames are particularly threatening the small town of Chico, about a three-hour drive north of San Francisco.
The fire was of criminal origin: a suspect was arrested on Thursday morning and placed in provisional detention, according to the local prosecutor.
The 42-year-old man, who has a criminal record, “was seen pushing a burning car into a ravine,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. “The car rolled down an embankment about sixty meters and burned completely, spreading the flames that caused the fire.”
More than 1,150 firefighters are working to fight the blaze, which is currently only 3% contained, according to CalFire.
This huge forest fire brings back bad memories in California: Chico is located only about twenty kilometers from Paradise, a town that was destroyed by a violent fire in 2018 and where 85 people died.
The American West has experienced several heat waves that have dried out its wide open spaces since early June, and dozens of fires are currently burning in the region, some caused by lightning.
Oregon hit
Neighboring California, Oregon is battling a megafire, the largest in the country, which has ravaged more than 1,080 km2 wildfires have sparked evacuations in a rural area of the state. The flames are raging and creating columns of smoke, affecting air quality as far away as neighboring Idaho.
Oregon alone currently has more than thirty fires burning.
The fires are also affecting western Canada, where part of the tourist town of Jasper has been destroyed.
PHOTO ARCHIVES JASPER NATIONAL PARK, PROVIDED BY THE CANADIAN PRESS
Smoke from a wildfire rises in Jasper, Alberta.
With global warming, the west of the North American continent is increasingly hit by extreme weather events.
In mid-July, California Governor Gavin Newsom warned of a fire season that “looks set to be very active,” after two years of respite brought about by very rainy winters, which allowed vegetation to grow back and act as fuel when it dries out.
By early July, forest fires had ravaged an area five times larger than the average for the first half of the last five years in California in the space of six months.