The largest active wildfire in California grew tremendously last night and threatened thousands of homes in the US state , which forced the firefighters to take urgent action to meet the danger. The fire is part of the flames that have engulfed vast areas of the western parts of the USA, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
The intensity and dramatic spread of the blaze has drawn grim comparisons from officials to the area's monster wildfire of 2018, which ravaged the town of Paradise and several other small towns, killing 85 and burning 11,000 homes.< /p>
The flames of this year's fire have so far consumed more than 130 buildings, and thousands more are threatened, which necessitated the evacuation of the population in four counties - Butte, Plumas, Tehama and Shasta. According to data as of last night local time, the fire is burning on an area of 1,243 square kilometers and is growing rapidly in the northern and eastern direction.
Authorities say the fire started Wednesday after an unknown man pushed a burning car into a ditch in Chico and then calmly fled the scene with others. "There is an incredible amount of "fuel" about the fire and it will continue to grow at a rapid pace", said a representative of the fire department at a briefing. According to him, the flames are advancing at a speed of 21 km/h.
Under "fire siege" there are other areas in the western United States and in Canada. In a remote area of Idaho, a fire sparked by lightning sent people fleeing along roads surrounded by flames, and a fire also broke out in eastern Washington state, forcing evacuations.
In eastern Oregon, an airman was found dead after a small tanker plane he was using to fight one of the many wildfires in the western US crashed. According to the latest data, there are more than 110 active fires burning in an area of 7,250 square kilometers in the United States, the National Interagency Fire Center reported.