A firefighter turns away from the heat of a fully engulfed home while battling the Edgehill fire on August 5, 2024 in San Bernardino, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi, Los Angeles Times/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Hot, dry weather across California continues to fuel fires, with explosive growth again recorded at the Park fire in Butte and Tehama counties, as well as at other, smaller fires across the state.
The Park fire, now the fourth-largest wildfire in state history, saw a major blowup Monday, with dramatic smoke plumes filling the air near the junction of highways 32 and 36, not far from the small town of Mineral. That town was already under an evacuation order; additional orders were issued for several communities in Tehama County near the Plumas County line.
“The fire is expected to continue to challenge crews until more favorable conditions arrive later in the week,” the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection wrote in its latest update Tuesday.
Jim Evans, a spokesperson for the Park fire incident, said the fire got into a remote area with exceptionally dry, untouched brush, making it hard to fight, especially in high temperatures.
Tuesday morning brought “some of the same conditions we got yesterday,” Evans said. “That adds more fuel to the fire.”
Humidity could drop even lower Tuesday, officials said.
“We’re doing everything we can to keep the acreage down and also to get up the containment,” Evans said. “The humidity has been [low] even at night.”
The Park fire, now about 34% contained, grew to 414,0042 acres as of Tuesday morning, up more than 10,000 acres from Monday morning. More than 600 structures have been destroyed, many of them homes, and almost 3,000 remain at risk, according to Cal Fire.
“Critically low fuel moisture, steep canyons, long drive times and daily spot fires have caused difficulty in suppressing the fire spread,” Cal Fire wrote in its update. “Temperatures will continue to be hot and dry throughout the day.”
In San Bernardino, a brush fire ripped through a hillside community Monday afternoon, where the area remained under an excessive heat warning.
The Edgehill fire, which was limited to 54 acres, still forced many residents to evacuate and destroyed several homes, according to San Bernardino Fire spokesperson Eric Sherwin. He said assessment teams are still working to determine the extent of the damage.
“The true miracle coming out of this was the fact that this fire hit the community so hard and we didn’t have a single civilian injury,” Sherwin said. “That’s just incredible.”
He said one firefighter was injured but has since been released from the hospital.
As of Tuesday morning, the blaze was 75% contained, according to the fire department. Investigators are looking into the start of the fire, which appears to be human-caused, Sherwin said.
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