Park Fire: California's largest active wildfire tops 350,000 acres as officials contain only 10% of blaze

The Park Fire in Northern California has exploded into a major crisis as it becomes the largest active blaze that has taken over the state. The matter became concerning after Federal officials notified that the active fires had managed to burn more than 2 million acres of land. With smoke darkening the skies across the state, authorities in both California and Oregon have notified people to be prepared to flee with little notice.

The deadly fire grew more than 350,000 acres on Saturday and the authorities continue to work on cooling the fire down. The Park Fire was started on Wednesday by a man who pushed a flaming vehicle into a gulley filled with dried brush at a park in Chico. The blaze erupted quickly and doubled in acreage, NBC News reported. It eventually doubled again amid hot temperatures, dry brush and gusty wind.

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Around 2,500 firefighters are working day and night battling the blaze which has been fuelled by steep terrain and wind gusts. The 42-year-old man who was responsible for the whole ordeal was arrested on Thursday. It has now become the largest fire in the state this year. Not only this, the blaze has consumed the area more than 1.5 times the size of New York City’s five boroughs.

The fire destroyed 134 structures so far

Amid the chaos, California Fire Officials stated that the Park Fire has so far destroyed 134 structures as it spread from Butte to Tehama County. After three days of 0 per cent containment, the fire officials mentioned that only 10 per cent of the blaze has been contained so far.

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Meanwhile, the California Fire incident commander Billy See said the fire has been spreading at a rate of 5,000 acres an hour. Thousands of people have already been evacuated this week from the region and the smoke also promoted air quality alerts across the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West.

The officials are now expecting that cooler temperatures and higher humidity forecast for the day will aid firefighters. “This is the best day as far as weather conditions that we’re going to experience this week,” said Scott Weese, a Cal Fire official, at a briefing with firefighters on Saturday. However, the officials are still not clear as to when they’ll be fully able to contain the fire.

California is in complete shambles 

Looking at the intensity of the fire, on Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for Butte and Tehama counties, as well as for Plumas County, home to the much smaller Gold Complex Fire, now at 3,007 acres with 50 per cent containment, NBC News reported.

His officials mentioned that the proclamation of a state of emergency would make it easier for fire victims to replace lost identification and file for unemployment benefits. On Saturday, Newsome’s office also notified that it has secured a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help firefighters battle the Borel Fire in Kern County.

According to Cal Fire, currently, active fires in California have burned up to 626,600 acres so far. Around 21 wildfires across the United States have forced the authorities to call for evacuation this year. Fire weather watches and warnings were in effect Saturday for parts of Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Southern Idaho, Utah and California, the National Interagency Fire Center said in an update.

With inputs from agencies.