Lightning strikes fueled fast-moving wildfires in Idaho, prompting the evacuation of several communities, including one where a man passed through a building and trees engulfed in flames as a smoke tunnel rose along the roadside.
Videos posted on social media include reports of an explosion as they left Juliata, about 27 miles (43 kilometers) southeast of the University of Idaho campus in Moscow. The town of more than 600 residents was evacuated just before the Gwen fire, as were several communities near the Clearwater River.
The Idaho Department of Lands said “multiple structures” were burned, but the agency did not immediately release additional details, including whether the structures were homes or outbuildings.
As it and other flames burn in the Pacific Northwest, Officials announced California’s largest wildfire was started by a man who saw him push a burning car into a ravine, tripling in size.
The man then calmly left the area in Bidwell Park, mixing with others and fleeing the scene as the rapidly spreading spark ignited the park, Butte County Prosecutor Mike Ramsey said. A 42-year-old man from Chico was arrested early Thursday and was being held without bail pending an arraignment Monday, authorities said.
A massive firefighting effort was unable to contain the blaze as it roared through dry brush and rugged terrain, sending a huge plume of smoke into neighboring states. It burned 257 square miles (666 square kilometers) early Friday morning as it spread from the mountains above Chico, a city of about 100,000 in the north Central Valley.
Evacuations were ordered in Butte and Tehama counties as the Park Fire was only 3% contained by Friday morning. About 4,000 residents in unincorporated areas of Butte County and 400 residents in Chico were ordered to evacuate, Butte County Sheriff Corey Honea said late Thursday. An unspecified number of structures were destroyed and two minor injuries were reported, Butte County Fire Chief Garrett Sjoland said.
“The fire quickly outgrew our resources due to dry fuels, hot weather, low humidity and wind,” Sjoland said.
A park fire burning near Chico has become California’s largest this year. AP reporter Donna Warder reports.
The Park Fire was burning northwest of Paradise, a Butte County community where the worst camp fire in 2018 killed 85 people and burned thousands of homes, making it California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire. “We want to express our sadness and frustration by being here once again,” Honea said.
Climate change is increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the region endures record-breaking heat and bone-dry conditions. In total, 1,500 square miles (4,000 square kilometers) have burned so far this summer in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, and wildfires have spread into western Canada.
The worst damage so far has been in Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies, where fast-moving wildfires have forced 25,000 people to evacuate. Destroyed the city for which the park is namedA World Heritage Site.
Oregon still has the largest burning forest in the United States. The Turki Fire, combined with the Matu Fire, has burned nearly 630 square miles (1,630 square kilometers). According to government website InciWeb, it remains unpredictable and was only 20% on Friday.
Some residents were allowed to return home in areas already scorched by the Turki fire after thunderstorms and cold temperatures developed Wednesday. Evacuations were lifted for the eastern Oregon town of Huntington, population 500. Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash called the rain a “godsend,” and the Oregon State Fire Marshal told firefighters to hold off on good conditions to “take advantage of the opportunity.” Fires on the Oregon-Idaho border.
But the leading edge of that weather also produced lightning strikes, which started 15 new fires in Idaho. For the first time, Idaho Power shut off power to thousands of customers early to prevent new fires and power grid problems from downed wires from high winds, the utility said.
Many of them were extinguished by Thursday afternoon, the U.S. Forest Service told Boise’s KBOI-TV. Meanwhile, more than two dozen new fires started in Montana on Wednesday and early Thursday.
Elsewhere in California, about 1,000 people were displaced Thursday by the lightning-sparked Gold Complex Fire, which burned more than 50 brush and logs in California’s Plumas National Forest near the Nevada line. miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Reno, Forest Service spokesman Adrian Freeman said. There were no reports of structural damage, deaths or serious injuries, but Thursday’s fire was zero amid the same strong winds that batter park fire crews, officials said.
Firefighters battled a small fire Thursday afternoon in the hills just above the Riverside County town of Lake Elsinore, inland in Southern California. The Macy Fire was 15% contained early Friday morning, with an unspecified structure destroyed. In rural northern San Diego County, the 3-day-old Grove Fire rose to 25% containment after a day of minimal growth.
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Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone, Sarah Brumfield, Claire Rush, Scott Sonner, Martha Bellisle and Amy Hanson contributed to this report.
