CHICO, California — Firefighters battling California’s largest wildfire this year have contained a third of the blaze, thanks in part to cooler weather. But if temperatures rise above 85 degrees again, the blaze could grow even bigger, fire officials said Sunday.
Cooler temperatures and higher humidity gave firefighters “a great opportunity to make good progress” in extinguishing the blaze in the Sierra Nevada foothills, said Chris Vestal, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Park Fire has burned 600 square miles (1,623 square kilometers) since it began on July 24. Authorities said a man started a burning car in a ravine in Chico and then fled. The fire was 30% contained on Sunday.
The massive fire has burned an area larger than the city of Los Angeles, covering about 503 square miles (1,302 square kilometers). It continues to burn through rugged, inaccessible and steep terrain with dense vegetation.
The fire’s northward advance has brought it into the rugged lava rock landscape surrounding Lassen Volcanic National Park, which has been closed due to the threat. The inhospitable terrain remains one of the biggest challenges for firefighters.
“The challenge with that is we can’t dig a line through it with heavy equipment, like bulldozers,” Vestal said.
“And on top of that, we have to employ people, our manual workers, to remove those fuels and some of the terrain is not exactly ideal for walkers, so it takes a lot of time and extremely hard work,” he added.
The fire has destroyed at least 572 buildings and damaged 52 others. At least 2,700 people in Butte and Tehama counties remain under evacuation orders, Veal said.
After days of smoky skies, the sky cleared on Sunday, allowing firefighters to deploy helicopters and other aircraft to help battle the blaze, as temperatures soared above 38 degrees Celsius.
“The fire is in a good spot given the weather conditions over the last few days, but we still have to be concerned about the weather we have and the conditions that will persist over the next five or six days,” Veal said.
The fire in Northern California is one of 85 major blazes raging across the country’s West.
In Colorado, firefighters made progress against three major fires are raging near densely populated areas north and south of Denver. Many residents evacuated by the fires have been allowed to return home.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fire that is threatening hundreds of homes near the Colorado city of Littleton as arson.
About 50 buildings were damaged or destroyed, about half of them homes, in a fire near Loveland. And one person was found dead in a home that burned west of the city of Lyons.
Scientists say extreme wildfires are becoming more frequent and devastating in the western US and other parts of the world. climate change is warming the planet and droughts become more severe.
