California Wildfire Got Bigger, 88 miles north of Sacramento
California Wildfire Got Bigger, 88 miles north of Sacramento
Could reach California´s Capital City Within 2 Weeks, San Francisco Within 3 Weeks
California weather will not aid fire fighters battling massive blaze
By Rich Mckay
July 30, 202411:58 PM GMT-3
Item 1 of 2 A vehicle passes firefighters standing by the road as the Park Fire burns, near Jonesville, California, U.S., July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
[1/2]A vehicle passes firefighters standing by the road as the Park Fire burns, near Jonesville, California, U.S., July 28, 2024. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
July 30 (Reuters) - The largest wildfire in the U.S. swelled to over 600 square miles (1,550 square kms) on Tuesday night, bigger than the city of Los Angeles, fire officials in California said, as thousands of firefighters battled the blaze in a wilderness area north of Sacramento.
More than 5,500 firefighters from across California and other states were working around the clock to douse the Park Fire, burning in the state's Central Valley, about 90 miles (145 km) north of Sacramento, the capital.
The fire grew to 386,764 acres (156,517 hectares), becoming the fifth largest wildfire in Californian history, officials said.
The Park Fire on Tuesday surpassed the size of the 2020 Creek Fire in Fresno County, which burned almost 380,000 acres (153,780 hectares), fire officials said. But it is still smaller than the state's largest fire on record, the August Complex fire of 2020, which burned more than 1 million acres (404,685 hectares) in seven counties in northern California.
The Park Fire - fueled by dry grass, brush and timber - is fast-moving, said Fire Capt. Dan Collins of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection or Cal Fire.
"This fire has lots of fuel that is receptive to burning, and it's hard to get to," he said. "Our fire line is 260 miles (673 kms) around, that's the size of three Lake Tahoes. It can take two-three hours to get personnel in there over the terrain."
read more at: https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/raging-california-wildfire-grows-bigger-than-city-los-angeles-2024-07-30/