Oroville, California —
As Californians prepare for a dangerous, extended heat wave with temperatures reaching triple digits and forecast to continue into next week, firefighters continue to battle wildfires across the state.
The fire of greatest concern Wednesday was the Thompson Fire in the Butte County city of Oroville, destroying several buildings and forcing thousands of people to evacuate as flames closed in on the community.
Homes in Lower Lake are also under threat from the wildfires, prompting people to evacuate.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the Thompson Fire on Wednesday, noting that the blaze is threatening “structures, homes, critical infrastructure, health care facilities and congregate care facilities.”
“We are taking every possible measure to respond to these fires and will continue to work closely with our local and federal partners to support affected communities,” Governor Newsom said in a statement.
The Thompson Fire grew from 1,000 acres overnight to more than 3,500 acres by Wednesday afternoon and was 7% contained by Wednesday evening, according to Cal Fire officials. The fire was burning in two directions: north into rural areas and south into homes and businesses. More than 1,400 personnel were battling the blaze.
Eight firefighters were injured. Four suffered minor injuries from heat exhaustion on Tuesday and one was injured at the fire on Wednesday, said Rick Carhart, spokesman for Cal Fire’s Butte County division. Three firefighters were hospitalized after their fire engine crashed Wednesday morning, two with minor injuries and one with moderate injuries, he said.
Carhart said winds from the north continued to push the flames toward Kelly Ridge, a densely populated area on the east side of Lake Oroville, where most of the evacuees lived.
Among them were Don and Linda Pederson, who said they won’t be displaced by the recent fires eating away at their land.
“This isn’t the first time this has happened,” said Don, 81.
But that’s the closest the fire has come to the home they’ve lived in for 50 years, which sits on an acre of land east of Oroville Dam that’s been in their family since 1945. Linda said she thinks the closest the fire was was about a mile away, but she has no plans to evacuate unless it gets beyond Highway 162.
The Pedersons’ home is within an evacuation warning zone, but fire maps show their garage is right in the mandatory evacuation zone.
“The power lines go through my house,” he said with a laugh. “Even if the whole house was in the evacuation zone, we wouldn’t evacuate if we didn’t know it was coming down the hill on our side of the road.” He added that the house has electricity and a whole-house generator as a backup.
“Yesterday, we could actually see the flames in the distance,” he said. “We didn’t evacuate, even though the police were walking the streets with megaphones and going door to door telling people to ‘get out,’ but we chose to stay.”
He said he and his wife, Linda, 79, are now monitoring the fire situation inside the house and keeping some important documents there in case they have to evacuate quickly. Their property has been mowed to create a defensible space to prevent embers from flying, and their two cars are parked away from the house in case of a fire. There are two fire hydrants next to the property.
“The wind wasn’t that strong, but it’s picking up now,” he said, “and we could see a fair amount of smoke.”
The Feather River initially prevented the fire, which started at Cherokee Road and Thompson Flat Road, from moving south, but as the fire grew stronger it spread across the river.
“This fire burned in a mixture of grass and brush,” Carhart said. [spread] Sparks flew across the water and fell on the other side.”
Carhart said a combination of highly flammable grasses and long-burning shrubs — helping to propel embers ahead of the flames — contributed to the fire’s rapid and early spread.
Officials said about 12,000 homes, businesses and other buildings were at risk at one point and 28,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes. That was before some evacuation orders were downgraded to warnings Wednesday evening, Carhart said, although a more recent tally was not immediately available.
At least four houses were destroyed.
“By the way, there are some people who have emigrated to this area. [to Kelly Ridge] “After I burned to death in the Camp Fire,” Carhart said, the 2018 wildfire that killed 85 people and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, making it the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history.
Carhart said the Thompson Fire was more challenging Wednesday because it was burning close to densely populated residential areas, with many firefighters mobilizing to protect buildings and waiting in driveways to make sure embers didn’t ignite homes.
Firefighters are battling the blaze under high heat and red flag warnings.
The California heatwave is expected to send temperatures soaring to 113 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday and 114 degrees Fahrenheit in Oroville on Saturday. Wind gusts near the fire site were about 15 to 20 mph on Wednesday.
Relative humidity around the fire area dropped below 20 percent Wednesday but is expected to bounce back into the mid 30s to low 40s overnight, said Kate Forrest, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office.
Starting Monday, temperatures will begin to cool relatively, with temperatures expected to range between 107 and 109 degrees.
“Temperatures are 10 to 20 degrees warmer than normal and it is unusual to see such extreme heat so early in July,” she added.
Forrest said the heat wave could break downtown Sacramento’s record for the seventh consecutive day of temperatures above 105 degrees Fahrenheit. It could also break daytime temperature records at Sacramento International Airport and in Redding.
In the Los Angeles area, high temperatures over the next week are expected to range from 100 to 108 degrees Fahrenheit in the San Fernando Valley, with temperatures likely to reach the low 90s in downtown Los Angeles and around 80 degrees Fahrenheit near the coast, according to Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford.
Wofford said temperature records for the day could be broken on Friday in Woodland Hills (106 degrees Fahrenheit set on July 5), Burbank (104 degrees), Los Angeles International Airport (85 degrees) and Long Beach (91 degrees).
Temperatures are expected to start to drop Sunday into Monday, but temperatures are still expected to be in the triple digits in the Valley and in the upper 80s Fahrenheit in downtown Los Angeles.
“This heat wave is remarkable for its length,” Wofford added. “A lot of times we have heat waves that last two, three, four, five days, but this one lasted seven or eight days, especially inland. It’s the duration that’s remarkable.”
Dangerously record-breaking heat is not only hitting California and the West this Independence Day week, but is also scorching the Southern Plains and Mid-Atlantic, with 110 million people in 21 states under heat watches, watches or warnings, the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said in a Wednesday morning forecast.
Most of Northern California remains under a red flag warning — a warning for extreme fire weather — as a combination of winds of up to 30 mph, low humidity and high temperatures “could contribute to extreme fire behavior,” according to the weather service.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced in a statement Wednesday that it has approved federal funding to help with efforts to fight the Thompson Fire.
Butte County firefighters also battled three smaller vegetation fires nearby, but the largest blaze grew to 7 to 8 acres before firefighters could contain it, Carhart said.
“It’s hot and dry here and in these conditions fires can start and spread easily so we need to be careful,” he said. “We’ve already had a big fire in our unit that we’re busy fighting and we don’t want to see a whole bunch of smaller fires start.”
Pacific Gas & Electric Co., considering the situation across its jurisdiction, initiated its first public safety power outages of the year. The outages affected more than 2,000 customers across eight counties: Butte, Colusa, Lake, Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama and Yolo. The outages, which began on Tuesday, continued until noon on Wednesday, according to the company. The move is intended to prevent the company’s equipment from causing fires in dangerous conditions.
In Simi Valley, the Sharp Fire broke out in the foothills off Sharp Road at about 1:47 p.m., and evacuations were ordered for homes along Ditch Road, but were lifted by 6:15 p.m., said Andrew Dowd, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department. One firefighter was hospitalized with minor injuries from heat stroke, he said.
As of Wednesday night, the fire had grown to 133 acres and was 15 percent contained, he said.
Evacuations have been ordered in Lower Lake County after the fire engulfed a commercial building, burned through grassland and oak forests and threatened homes. The Adams Fire, which started about 3:09 p.m. in the 16200 block of Main Street, had grown to 15 acres and was 15 percent contained as of 5:30 p.m., said Jason Clay, spokesman for Cal Fire’s Sonoma Lake-Napa Division.
“A control line has been set up around the perimeter of the fire,” he said. “Firefighters will remain on scene for another four to five hours and will be conducting intensive firefighting operations to address hot spots around the perimeter of the fire.”
The fire department sent three fire engines to the Thompson Fire, but a strong initial response, working under unified command with the Lake County Fire Protection District, was able to get the Adams Fire under control, he said.
In Napa County, the Thor Fire started just before 10 a.m. Tuesday north of Calistoga and has grown to about 40 acres, according to Cal Fire.
The blaze, fueled by strong winds, closed at least one road, prompted multiple evacuation orders and warnings and affected just over 100 people, Clay said. By Wednesday evening, firefighters had contained 40 percent of the blaze.
Clay said conditions in the region are ripe for more wildfires. Two consecutive wet winters have encouraged bumper grass harvests, and the National Interagency Coordination Center issued a warning last week that fires could spread quickly in California’s grass-dominated ecosystems, such as deserts and dry valleys that typically don’t have enough vegetation to support the spread of fires.
“The grass is really dry,” said Clay, who noticed a red flag warning for the area. “The combination just all fits together.” [and] That can lead to extreme fire behavior.”
Fire officials continue to warn that given the abundance of grass and shrubs following two winters of heavy rain, wildfires could intensify once the vegetation dries out completely (usually by midsummer).
Another large fire that began Monday continues to grow in eastern San Diego County. The McCain Fire, burning just off Interstate 8, has burned 1,595 acres and was 70% contained by Wednesday evening, according to Cal Fire. The blaze has prompted multiple evacuation orders and warnings and has affected about 140 people, according to Fire Chief Mike Cornett of the San Diego County Fire Department team.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but Cornett said it was likely caused by a vehicle engulfed in flames during a traffic accident. He said about 150 buildings were at risk but no damage was done.
Two more small fires also broke out in Northern California on Tuesday: the Denverton Fire in Solano County and the Yola Fire in Shasta County, both of which were under 30 acres as of Wednesday night.
Firefighters continued battling the Basin Fire on Wednesday, which has burned 13,979 acres in the Sierra National Forest in Fresno County and is 26 percent contained, Cal Fire said.
The fire is not far from Balti Camp, an isolated community where the blaze has forced the evacuation of more than 150 people. PG&E has power infrastructure there, but a company spokesman said none of its facilities were affected as of Tuesday morning.
Times reporter Gutierrez reported from Oroville, and Tuohy, Mejia, Lin and Deng reported from Los Angeles. Times reporters Joseph Serna, Rachel Uranga and James Rainey contributed to this report.