- Author, Mallory Moench
- Role, BBC News
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Tens of thousands of people in Northern California have been ordered to leave their homes as wildfires surge across the state during a heat wave.
About 28,000 people were issued evacuation warnings or orders Thursday after the Thompson Fire broke out two days earlier. according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).
Dangerously hot weather is expected to continue with temperatures of 118°F (47°C) forecast in some areas through early next week.
No one died, while 74 structures across the state were destroyed or damaged.
The city of Oroville, near where the Thompson Fire started, canceled its July 4 fireworks display to celebrate Independence Day because of the risk of sparking another fire.
“The last thing we need is for someone who bought fireworks from a local stand to do something stupid,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. “Don’t be stupid, don’t start a fire and don’t create more problems for us.”
Mr Honea said the region had experienced four fires in the past two weeks and warned the danger was far from over.
“It’s a tough fire season,” he added.
Fire season has recently begun in California and typically lasts through October. The size and intensity of fires in the state have increased in recent years.
The amount of summer burning in northern and central California increased fivefold between 1996 and 2021 compared to the previous 24-year period, which scientists attribute to human-caused climate change.
This week, the National Weather Service issued excessive heat and red flag warnings — indicating hot, dry and windy weather — across the state. The agency said the “dangerous” temperatures posed a major to extreme risk of heat stress or illness.
According to CalFire, about 20 wildfires have burned more than 10 acres of forest since the last week of June. The largest, at nearly 15,000 acres, was in Fresno County.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in Butte County to provide resources.
The Thompson Fire started Tuesday in Oroville, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of the state capital, Sacramento. The city is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Paradise, which was devastated by the Camp Fire in 2018, which killed 85 people. Fires have again struck the area in the years since.
As of Thursday, some 28,000 people were under evacuation orders or warnings, CalFire spokesman Robert Foxworthy told the BBC. The fire covered about 3,500 acres and was only 7% contained.
He said the fire was no longer growing because of weak winds, but the heat – expected to reach 43C on Thursday – was the “most significant factor” affecting firefighters.
Two days after the fire started, many residents have still not been able to return home.
Brittanie Hardie, a Louisiana native and recent California transplant, told the San Francisco Chronicle that she wasn’t home when her girlfriend vacated their apartment and had nothing but the clothes on her back.
“I knew the wildfires were bad in California, but I didn’t know they were this bad,” Hardie told the newspaper.
Oroville City Council member Shawn Webber posted a video on Facebook Wednesday showing smoking hills on both sides of a road, but thanked firefighters for preventing further destruction.
The California State Parks system said agencies responding to the fire “also have employees whose families were displaced by these evacuations and who are tirelessly assisting the Lake Oroville community.”
