Crews make progress as massive fire in park spreads to more than 350,000 hectares

Firefighters made some progress Sunday in battling the massive Park Fire burning across Butte, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama counties. It is California’s largest wildfire of the year and the state’s seventh-largest fire ever.

The 353,194-acre fire was 12 percent contained, thanks in large part to a brief respite from hot, dry conditions, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. But crews face an uphill battle with warmer temperatures and lower humidity on the horizon as the fire continues to burn through dense vegetation.

“We are dependent on the weather, the fuel and the topography. Those are the three driving factors of any fire,” said Jay Tracy, a spokesman for the incident.

Read more:‘Extraordinary’ growth of California’s largest fire raises alarm, could burn for months

The explosive wildfire started Wednesday afternoon after a man pushed a burning car into a ravine near Chico in what authorities said was arson. Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, and at least 66 buildings have been destroyed, with 4,200 still threatened.

Nearly 4,000 firefighters are battling the blaze from the air and on the ground, Tracy said. But the fire is burning in steep, rugged terrain that is proving difficult to access — including areas like the Ishi Wilderness that haven’t burned in decades and are therefore overgrown and susceptible to fire, Tracy said.

“There is no infrastructure there with the roads and access points that we need,” he added.

The fire is mostly moving north, where communities like Paynes Creek remain a major concern. Fortunately, many of the homes and neighborhoods in the area are spread out and not densely populated, so crews have been able to keep property damage and other costs to a relative minimum, Tracy said.

Another community of concern — Cohasset on the southern edge of the fire — has also been spared so far thanks to a combination of “luck and hard work,” said Zeke Lunder, a fire expert and geographer from Chico.

Satellite images of the fire captured by the European Space Agency show many active heat and flame sources, but also a number of useful forest management and fuel reduction projects that have helped keep some areas protected, Lunder said at a briefing Saturday evening.

Read more:‘Firenado’ swirls from explosive blaze in park north of Chico

Meteorologists say the tides could turn quickly, however. While a low pressure area brought significantly cooler and wetter conditions to the region over the weekend, the coming days will likely bring a gradual increase in temperatures and a decrease in humidity, said Sara Purdue, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

“We’re looking at the potential for triple-digit temperatures by next weekend,” Purdue said. “There’s still some uncertainty in the forecast, but it’s going to be a slow transition back to those warmer-than-normal temperatures.”

The fire has prompted a state of emergency declaration by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said Saturday he had brought in additional federal aides to help fight the blaze.

“This is already one of the largest fires in California history, and we continue to see dangerous conditions — our firefighters and emergency responders are working around the clock to protect our communities,” Newsom said in a statement. “Californians must heed the warnings of local authorities and take steps to stay safe.”

According to Tracy, the incident spokesperson, the extreme behavior that occurred in the first hours of the fire appears to have subsided somewhat, such as tornado-like “fire whirls” sometimes called “firenados.”

But there is still a lot of smoke coming out, with plumes reaching as far as Oregon and Nevada, according to federal smoke maps.

The fire in the park has resulted in several road closures and the closure of Lassen Volcanic National Park. Evacuation shelters are available at Neighborhood Church in Chico and Los Molinos Vet’s Hall in Los Molinos. Large and small animal shelters are also available in Oroville, Red Bluff and Corning.

The battle between the weather and the gunfire will continue Sunday and into the coming days, Tracy said.

“If the weather continues to cooperate, we can continue this direct attack and further contain the situation,” he said.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.