California's largest wildfire spreading rapidly threatening thousands of homes

More than 100 blazes are raging across swathes of the western US, as a "wall of fire" reaching 328ft in the Canadian Rockies is feared to have wiped out up to half the buildings of a popular tourist town.

Saturday 27 July 2024 12:49, UK

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A massive wildfire in California is spreading rapidly at a rate of eight square miles an hour, threatening thousands of homes and forcing people to flee.

More than 130 homes have already been destroyed by the Park Fire, the state's largest wildfire of the year so far, which covered 480sq miles (1,243sq km) on Friday evening.

It started in Butte County on Wednesday and has been moving quickly north and eastwards since then.

Although no one is yet reported to have died, the dramatic spread of the blaze has seen firefighters draw comparisons to the Camp Fire of 2018 that killed 85 people and destroyed 11,000 homes in nearby Paradise.

Cal Fire incident commander Billy See said: "There's a tremendous amount of fuel out there and it's going to continue with this rapid pace."

A 42-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the fire over reports he pushed a burning car into a gully in Chico before fleeing the scene.

Carli Parker is one of hundreds who have abandoned their homes in Chico.

The mother-of-five has been forced to leave her home twice before because of fires.

She said: "I think I felt like I was in danger because the police had come to our house because we had signed up for early evacuation warnings, and they were running to their vehicle after telling us that we need to self-evacuate and they wouldn't come back."

There were 110 active fires, covering an area of 2,800sq miles (7,250sq km), across the United States on Friday, according to the National Interagency Fire Centre.

In eastern Oregon, a pilot was found dead in a small air tanker plane that crashed while fighting one of the many blazes spreading across several western states.

Oregon currently has the biggest blaze in the country, the Durkee Fire, which combined with the Cow Fire has burned almost 630sq miles (1,630sq km).

It remains unpredictable and was only 20% contained Friday, according to officials.

Fast-moving blaze

In rural Idaho, lightning sparked a fast-moving blaze that had spread to cover an area of 31sq miles (80sq km) on Friday, while homes have also been destroyed in eastern Washington.

Meanwhile, in the Canadian Rockies town of Jasper, Alberta, officials warned of a "wall of fire" as flames reached 100m (328ft) high and spread three miles (5km) in less than 30 minutes on Friday.

Up to half the buildings in the popular tourist town, which attracts more than two million visitors a year, are feared to have been lost, while 25,000 people have been forced to flee.

Alberta is currently battling facing around 176 wildfires, of which 50 are burning out of control.

California's largest wildfire spreading rapidly threatening thousands of homes

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