Scores of wildfires across the United States and Canada have scorched swaths of land in California, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Alberta and beyond, forcing evacuations and road closures, as well as destroying and threatening structures. Air quality advisories and alerts have been issued in some affected areas.
The Park Fire in Butte County, California, near the city of Chico has seared 257 square miles (666 square kilometers) and was considered completely uncontained Friday.
Evacuations were ordered in Butte and Tehama counties. About 4,000 residents in unincorporated areas of Butte County and 400 residents of Chico were ordered to evacuate, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said late Thursday. Two minor injures were reported, more than 130 structures were destroyed and about 4,200 were threatened.
Residents who evacuated from the communities of Cohasset, Forest Ranch and Magalia were staying at the Red Cross shelter at the Neighborhood Church of Chico. Many residents with pets sleeping in their cars in the parking lot because animals weren't permitted inside the shelter.
Brian Bowles, 61, said he heard about the fire on the news shortly after waking up and rushed to pack up his car and get his dog Diamon ready to evacuate.
“Right about the time I go out the door, I got two city PD officers at the door telling me I needed to get out,” Bowles said outside Red Cross shelter at the Neighborhood Church of Chico, where he was staying in his car. He said the shelter doesn’t allow animals.
"I heard the neighbor across the street from me lost his house, and, I only live in an old doublewide mobile. Whether it's still standing or not, I got no idea," Bowles said.
A California man arrested Thursday was accused of sparking the state’s largest wildfire of the year by pushing a burning car into a gully.
The blaze was burning northwest of Paradise, the community devastated by the Camp Fire in 2018 that killed 85 people and destroyed thousands of homes.
As of Friday, there were 96 large active fires in the U.S. that have engulfed 2,274 square miles (5,890 square kilometers), most of them in Oregon, followed by California and Arizona, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
More than 1,500 square miles (4,000 square kilometers) have burned overall so far this summer in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. In Canada, more than 3,700 fires have charred more than 8,000 square miles (22,800 square kilometers) so far this year, according to the government’s latest National Wildland Fire Situation Report, issued Wednesday.
Fuels and fire behavior advisories are in place for southwest Oregon, the region east of the Cascades in Oregon and Washington, Nevada, southern Idaho, Utah and California.