Forest Ranch, California — Wildfires raging across the western United States and Canada on Sunday put millions of people on air quality alerts and sent thousands of firefighters battling the blazes, including the largest wildfire of the year in California.
The so-called Park Fire had burned more than 550 square miles (1,430 square kilometers) of inland Northern California by Sunday morning, darkening skies with smoke and fog and degrading air quality across large swathes of the northwestern United States and western Canada.
The massive wildfire is only 12 percent contained, but cooler temperatures and higher humidity are expected to help firefighters battle the blaze, which has drawn comparisons to the Camp Fire that swept through nearby Paradise in 2018, killing 85 people and burning 11,000 homes.
Paradise and several other communities in Butte County were under evacuation warnings Sunday. But Cal Fire Operations Division Chief Jeremy Pierce said the southern front of the Park Fire, closest to Paradise, was “looking really good” around noon, and that the fire was focused on clearing the area over the next three days. He also said he did not expect it to move much farther into Chico, a city of about 100,000 people just west of Paradise.
First responders initially focused on saving lives and property endangered by the Park Fire, but Park Fire spokesman Jay Tracy told The Associated Press by phone Sunday that they have shifted to tackling the blaze head-on. About 3,400 firefighters are battling the blaze with the help of numerous helicopters and air tankers, and Tracy said the reinforcements will give some local firefighters a much-needed break after working nonstop since the fire began Wednesday.
“This fire is taking a lot of people by surprise with its explosive growth,” he said. “It’s unparalleled.”
Mark Chenard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Forecast Center in College Park, Maryland, said cooler than average temperatures are expected across the region through the middle of the week, but that doesn’t mean “the current fires are going to go away.”
Tracy said at least 66 structures were destroyed and five were damaged by the fire. Authorities initially believed 134 structures were lost based on drone footage, but the number was reduced after teams assessed the damage in person.
“Unfortunately, that number is probably going to increase,” Tracy said. “Every day, that number is likely to increase. Our team obviously doesn’t do damage assessments when there’s a fire in that area.”
The park fire started Wednesday, when authorities say a man pushed his burning car into a ravine in Chico and fled. A Chico man accused of starting the fire was arrested Thursday and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.
Pierce said the northern half of the fire was still struggling Sunday, with firefighters using bulldozers and other equipment to build firebreaks in the rocky, rugged terrain and try to stop the fire from spreading.
The Park Fire was one of more than 100 blazes burning in the United States on Sunday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Some were caused by weather, with climate change increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the Western United States endures extreme heat and bone-dry weather.
Despite improving fire weather across Northern California, conditions remain ripe for more fires, with the National Weather Service warning of “red flag” conditions Sunday for large swaths of Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, in addition to parts of California.
In Southern California, a fire in the Sequoia National Forest swept through the community of Havila after burning more than 48 square miles (124 square kilometers) in less than three days. The town of about 250 people was ordered to evacuate.
Fires are also burning in eastern Oregon and eastern Idaho, with officials assessing damage from a series of blazes dubbed the Gwen Fire, which as of Sunday was estimated to cover 41 square miles (106 square kilometers).
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Rodriguez reported from San Francisco. AP writers across the U.S. contributed: David Sharp, Becky Boerer, John Antjak, Leo Yamat, David Sharp, Holly Lamarr, Sarah Brumfield, Claire Rush, Terri Chia, Scott Sohner, Martha Bellisle and Amy Hanson.
