On Wednesday, California’s largest wildfire continued to spread, and with the return of dangerous weather, thousands of firefighters prepared for more difficult battles.
Due to the hot and dry weather with wind speeds of up to 64 kilometers per hour, a red flag warning was issued on Thursday. This may cause flames in wood, bushes and grass, especially in the north and northeast of the huge Dixie fire.
“I think we will definitely have a few difficult days,” said Shannon Prather of the U.S. Forest Service.
Canada and the United States cannot share resources because both sides are fighting severe wildfires: Memo
Firefighters were able to save the house and contain a large fire. But fire officials said the flames crossed the border in several places on Tuesday, prompting some 15,000 people east of Lake Armano to issue additional evacuation orders.
As the three-week fire in Plumas and Butte counties spread to more than 1,108 square kilometers, firefighters are protecting the small northern California mountainous community in Greenville.
Mike Wink, the head of the state fire department, said the heat from the flames formed a flaming cumulus cloud, a huge plume of smoke that rose 30,000 feet in the air.
Dawn Garofalo watched the clouds rise from the west side of the lake. She took a dog and two horses and escaped from a friend’s house near Greenville.
“There is only one way to get in and out. If a fire breaks out, I don’t want to be trapped there,” Garofalo said.
At the campsite on the lake bed, she watched the fire on the horizon before dawn. “The fire is strong. They must be 500 feet high. Terrible,” she said.
Since its outbreak on July 14, the fire has threatened thousands of houses and destroyed 67 houses and other buildings. The fire has been controlled by 35%.
About 240 kilometers west, the McFarlane fire triggered by lightning threatened remote houses along the Trinity River in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The fire was only controlled by 5%. It burned violently in nearly 65 square kilometers of dry vegetation.
Similar dangerous weather is expected throughout Southern California. For most of this week, high temperature warnings and warnings have been issued in inland valleys, mountains and deserts.
Heat waves and historic droughts related to climate change have made wildfires in the western United States more difficult to extinguish. Scientists say that over the past 30 years, climate change has made the region warmer and drier, and will continue to make the weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive.
The National Interagency Fire Center stated that more than 20,000 firefighters and support personnel are fighting 97 large, active wildfires, covering 7,560 square kilometers in 13 US states.
Montana had 25 active fires on Tuesday, followed by Idaho with 21 and Oregon with 13 fires. There are 11 locations in California.
In Hawaii, firefighters controlled the 160-square-kilometer Mana Road fire, which forced thousands of people to evacuate over the weekend and destroyed at least two houses on the Big Island.
Bootleg Fire in Oregon is the largest fire in the United States, covering an area of 1,676 square kilometers, and 84% of fires are under control. Firefighters are busy clearing hot spots and strengthening fire lines.
“The staff are working tirelessly to ensure that we are fully prepared for extreme fire weather forecasts in the coming days,” the U.S. Forest Service updated.
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This version corrects the name of the Hawaiian Fire to Mana Road Fire instead of Nation Fire.
© 2021 Canadian Press
