13,000 people ordered to evacuate as devastating wildfire rages across Northern California
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Around 13,000 people in Northern California have been ordered to leave their homes as an enormous wildfire rips through the region amid a sweltering heatwave on the US west coast.
Some 1,500 emergency workers are involved in containing the fire in Oroville, Butte County, which has consumed more than 4.7 square miles since it started on Tuesday morning.
Firefighters lined roads to keep the flames from reaching homes while helicopters dumped water on Wednesday. By 9am local time the blaze was still zero percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
At least four firefighters were injured while responding to the blaze but no civilian was reported injured.
Pictures from the area showed houses, vehicles and woodland completely engulfed in yellow and orange flames.
Oroville, home to about 20,000 people, declared a state of emergency on Tuesday night. The city has seen several homes destroyed, KCRA TV reported on Wednesday, with two evacuation centers set up in Butte County.
The cause of the fire is being investigated. Red flag warnings for critical fire weather conditions, including gusty northerly winds and low humidity levels, were in effect when it erupted.
The warnings were expected to remain in place until 8pm PT on Wednesday, said Garret Sjolund, the Butte County chief for Cal Fire.
“The conditions out there that are in our county this summer are much different than we’ve experienced the last two summers,” Sjolund said in an online briefing, according to the Associated Press. “The fuels are very dense, brush is dry. And as you can see, any wind will, move a fire out very quickly.”
More high temperatures above 100F were forecast Wednesday, the National Weather Service said. Hot conditions were expected to continue into next week.
Authorities warned of full legal consequences for any illegal use of fireworks during the Fourth of July holiday on Thursday.
“Don’t be an idiot, cause a fire and create more problems for us,” said Butte County Sheriff Kory L Honea. ”No one in the community is going to want that. And we certainly don’t want this.”
Evacuation operations continue.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office announced late on Tuesday that federal funding had been approved to help with firefighting efforts. Earlier this week Governor Newsom activated the State Operations Center to coordinate the response, dispatch mutual aid and support communities as they respond to threats of wildfire and excessive heat.
More than a dozen other fires, most of them small, were active in California, according to Cal Fire.
