Lightning strikes have sparked fast-spreading wildfires in Idaho, prompting evacuations in several areas, including one where a man drove past a property and saw trees burst into flames, sending a tunnel of smoke over the road.
Videos posted on social media included one of a man who said he heard an explosion as he fled Juliaetta, about 27 miles (43 kilometers) southeast of the University of Idaho’s Moscow campus. The town of just over 600 people was evacuated just before the Gwen Fire erupted, along with several other communities near the Clearwater River.
The Idaho Bureau of Land Management said “multiple structures” burned but did not immediately release additional details, such as whether the structures were homes or outbuildings.
As this and other fires burn across the Pacific Northwest, The authorities announced The wildfire, which has tripled in size to become California’s largest this year, was reportedly started by a man pushing a burning car into a ditch.
The man then calmly left the area in Bidwell Park, blending in with others and fleeing the scene as fast-spreading flames sparked the Park Fire, Butte County Prosecutor Mike Ramsey said. The 42-year-old man, from Chico, was arrested early Thursday and is being held without bail pending his arraignment on Monday, authorities said.
Massive firefighting efforts were unable to contain the blaze, which raced through dead trees and rugged terrain, sending up huge plumes of smoke into neighboring states. It spread from the foothills of Chico, a city of about 100,000 in the northern Central Valley, and had burned more than 257 square miles (666 square kilometers) by early Friday.
Evacuation orders were issued in Butte and Tehama counties, and the Park Fire was only 3 percent contained by Friday morning. Butte County Sheriff Corey Honea said late Thursday that evacuation orders had been issued for about 4,000 residents in unincorporated areas of Butte County and 400 residents in Chico. Butte County Fire Chief Garrett Shorland said it was unclear how many structures had been destroyed and two minor injuries had been reported.
“Due to dry fuels, hot weather, low humidity and wind, the fire quickly began to outpace our firefighting resources,” Shorland said.
The Park Fire burning near Chico is California’s largest this year. Associated Press correspondent Donna Warder reports.
The Park Fire was burning northwest of Paradise, a Butte County community that in 2018 saw the infamous Camp Fire kill 85 people and burn thousands of homes, making it California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire. “I want to express my regret and outrage that we’re here again,” Honea said.
Climate change has caused the region to endure record-breaking heat and extremely dry conditions, resulting in more frequent lightning strikes. Overall, more than 1,500 square miles (4,000 square kilometers) have burned in the U.S. Pacific Northwest so far this summer, with wildfires also spreading in western Canada.
So far, Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies has been the hardest hit, with fast-spreading wildfires forcing 25,000 people to evacuate. It destroyed the town for which the park is named.It is registered as a World Heritage Site.
Oregon remains home to the largest fire in the United States. The Dalke Fire, combined with the Kaw Fire, has burned about 630 square miles (1,630 square kilometers). The fire remains unpredictable and was only 20 percent contained as of Friday, according to the government website InciWeb.
Some residents living in areas already burned by the Darke Fire were allowed to return home after thunderstorms brought rain and cooler temperatures on Wednesday. Evacuation orders were lifted in the eastern Oregon city of Huntington, population 500. Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash called the rain a “god blessin,” and the Oregon State Fire Marshal said firefighters were ready to “seize the opportunity” for better weather to help contain the blaze on the Oregon-Idaho border.
But the severe weather also came with lightning strikes that sparked 15 new fires in Idaho, and for the first time, Idaho Power preemptively shut off power to thousands of customers to prevent strong winds from knocking down power lines that could spark new fires and cause grid problems, the utility said.
The U.S. Forest Service told KBOI-TV in Boise that several fires had been contained by Thursday afternoon, while more than 20 new fires broke out in Montana on Wednesday and early Thursday.
Elsewhere in California, the Gold Complex Fire, sparked by a lightning strike, continued to force the evacuation of about 1,000 people Thursday. In California’s Plumas National Forest, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest of Reno near the Nevada border, more than 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) of brush and trees burned, said Adrienne Freeman, a Forest Service spokeswoman. There were no reports of damage to structures, deaths or serious injuries, but officials said the same gusts of wind that plagued Park Fire crews kept the blaze from being contained Thursday.
Also inland in Southern California, firefighters battled a small fire that broke out Thursday afternoon in the hills just above the city of Lake Elsinore in Riverside County. The Macy Fire was 15% contained as of early Friday morning, destroying one unidentified structure. In rural north San Diego County, the three-day-old Grove Fire is 25% contained after a day of minimal growth.
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Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone, Sarah Brumfield, Claire Rush, Scott Sonner, Martha Belisle and Amy Hanson contributed to this report.
