More than 6,000 firefighters in California’s Central Valley on Saturday continued to battle the largest blaze in the US, which burned its way into the history books as the state’s fourth-largest conflagration on record.
There was barely a taste of rain on Saturday from thunderstorms that brought wind and rainfall of zero to 2.5mm, forecasters said.
Heat of 38°C along with winds up to 40kph or more in some spots, offered little relief to the firefighters trying to contain the Park Fire, scorching the wilderness terrain about 161km north of Sacramento, the state capital.
Photo: Reuters
“We had some thunderstorms that just brought us down-drafts, that’s a problem,” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Christopher Young said.
Blazes from the Park Fire, allegedly started by a man who pushed a flaming car down a 18m gully near Chico, California, on July 24, has since burned more than 162,200 hectares.
The 42-year-old man arrested had not entered a plea as of Saturday, but was charged with arson and held without bail, officials said.
More than 560 homes and other structures were destroyed since the blaze started 11 days ago, feeding off of downed timber and tinder-dry grass and brush.
The fire was 27 percent contained on Saturday, officials said.
More than 4,000 people were evacuated in the Park Fire including retiree Jim Young, 65, of Red Bluff, California, where he lived in a trailer home with his dog, a black Labrador Retriever named Sparky.
He and the dog spent the last eight days camped out with some other families in a gravel lot at a wilderness trailhead about 10km from his home, worrying every day if it was safe.
“We just found out we can go home,” Young said on Saturday evening. “Our property is safe. So many lost everything, but me and Sparky can go home now.”
The rough, wilderness terrain means it takes two to three hours to reach the fire lines, officials said.
Some firefighters are being flown to the front lines by helicopters, with some expected to stay there for days with supplies also flown in.
The national wildfire season has had an intense start, raising the risk of stretching firefighting resources too thin. The National Interagency Fire Center has already requested help from firefighters in Australia and New Zealand, who are to arrive from Wednesday and deploy to Oregon and Washington.
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