OROVILLE, United States: Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate as a wildfire rages out of control in northern California, with the region gripped by an “exceptionally dangerous” heatwave that is making conditions worse.
More than 3,000 acres of grass and woodland have been consumed since Tuesday when a blaze started just outside Oroville, with authorities telling 13,000 people to leave the area.
The town, near the state capital of Sacramento, is just 38-kms from Paradise, a community that was razed in 2018 by the deadliest fire in state history, in which 85 people perished.
Garrett Sjolund, fire chief of Butte County, said the area was under a so-called “red flag warning.” “The conditions out there that are in our county this summer are much different than we´ve experienced the last two summers,” he told reporters.
“The fuels are very dense. Brush is dry, and as you can see, any wind will move a fire out very quickly.” Climate scientists say the western US is undergoing a decades-long aridification as weather patterns change, at least in part because of human-caused global warming.
California suffered around 20 years of drought, but the last two years were relatively mild, with near-record amounts of rain.
However, 2024 is shaping up to be a hot and dry year, and that flora is rapidly drying out, creating plenty of fuel for the wildfires that are a normal part of the ecosystem´s natural cycle.