A historic mining community is decimated as the Park Fire and other massive wildfires rage in the Western United States

By CNN Newsource

Published July 29, 2024 12:39 AM

By Zoe Sottile, Susannah Cullinane and Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN) — Wildfires are raging out of control in the Western United States and Canada – destroying homes, forcing evacuations and injuring residents. One inferno has reportedly destroyed the historic mining community of Havilah. Another has scorched more than 360,000 acres of California – an area larger than the city of Phoenix. Here’s the latest:

• Borel Fire ravages historic mining community: The fire in Kern County, California, “swept through the community of Havilah and Piute Meadows Ranches,” CalFire said. Havilah was discovered in 1864 and served as an active mining center for more than 20 years, according to California State Parks. The Borel Fire had burned more than 50,000 acres and was 0% contained as of Sunday night.

• Hope for stopping wildfires’ spread: The weather forecast for the Northwest calls for lighter winds than the area has seen in recent days, giving firefighters some optimism about slowing the progress of the Park Fire and more than 100 other large wildfires burning across the region. Temperatures across much of the West will be at or below average to start this week, with forecast highs through Tuesday ranging between the 60s and 70s along the Pacific Coast and the 70s and 80s in the inland Pacific Northwest.

• Park Fire is largest active wildfire in the US: The Park Fire, the sixth-largest wildfire in California history, has now torched more than 370,000 acres, or 578 square miles – an area larger than Phoenix. The fire has destroyed 100 structures and threatens thousands more, according to Cal Fire. It was 12% contained as of Monday morning, but evacuations warnings or orders remained in Butte, Tehama, Plumas and Shasta counties. President Joe Biden has directed his administration to do everything possible to support ongoing fire suppression efforts, a White House official said. Although an increase in humidity dampened fire activity early Monday morning, CalFire officials expect an increase in fire activity Monday afternoon because of southwest winds and dry vegetation.

• Arson suspect to be arraigned Monday: A 42-year-old man, Ronnie Dean Stout II, has been arrested and accused of igniting the Park Fire. Stout is suspected of pushing a burning car 60 feet into a gully, spreading flames that caused the inferno, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said.

• Progress fighting Durkee Fire in Oregon: The Durkee Fire is the largest wildfire burning in Oregon, at more than 288,000 acres. It has injured three people and destroyed four homes. The fire was 49% contained as of Monday morning, according to InciWeb, and the containment could improve as winds calm and humidity levels moderate.

• Crews to see more challenges in Jasper, Alberta: Though weekend rain helped firefighters combat the Jasper Wildfire Complex – the park’s largest wildfire in more than a century – and extinguish 60 fires across the province, warmer weather in the days ahead might present further challenges. Temperatures in the area have dropped and there is a chance of showers Monday, with highs expected in the upper 60s to mid-70s and rising through the week. Wildfire danger for the southern areas of the province remain very high to extreme, said Melissa Story, spokesperson for Alberta Wildfire. “This area did not see the moisture as the other areas of the province did,” Story said.

• Air tanker pilot who died fighting fire in Oregon identified: James Bailey Maxwell, an experienced pilot who logged about 24,000 hours of flight time in his 54 years of flying, died after his single-engine air tanker crashed while working near the Falls Fire in Oregon Thursday, according to a statement from the US Forest Service – Malheur National Forest. “He is survived by and will be missed by family members in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington,” the statement said. The Falls Fire began on July 10 and has since burned more than 142,000 acres and is 57% contained as of Sunday, according to InciWeb.

‘Everybody lost everything’

The Borel Fire has destroyed the historic mining community of Havilah, with only a few buildings left standing, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“We lost everything — it’s all gone,” resident Sean Rains told the Times on Sunday. “This whole town burned down. Multiple people, friends that I know — everybody lost everything.”

The number of homes and businesses destroyed in Havilah – population 250 – is still being assessed, fire officials said at a weekend news conference. But evacuation orders have been in effect, according to Jim Snow, one of the incident commanders.

Fueled in part by red-flag conditions – such as warm temperatures, very low humidities and strong winds – the Borel Fire has exploded in growth. It scorched 30,000 acres in a 24-hour period, Snow said.

Despite 1,200 personnel assigned to the inferno, the blaze was 0% contained as of Sunday.

“Some of those edges of the fire, with rapid growth, we’re having to chase down rather than stand in front of it,” Snow said. “We have had some light injuries on the incident – a lot of heat-related injuries.”

Firefighters make progress in California

Having burned 370,237 acres, the Park Fire has become the sixth largest wildfire in California history, CalFire Incident Commander Billy See said during a news conference Monday.

“That occurred in only six days. This region, both Butte and Tehama, over the course of time in California, has had four of the largest 10 fires known in history,” See said.

The blaze stayed active overnight Sunday into Monday, especially on ridges and slopes in the area, CalFire said in an update.

In the early morning, “an increase in humidity caused the fire activity to moderate. Through the night, smoke blanketed the fire area, also causing some dampening of the activity,” the update read, though an increase in activity is expected later Monday.

Despite continuing hot spots and active fire activity in some areas, aerial and ground crews have been successful in quelling flames, according to CalFire Battalion Chief Mark Brunton.

At the news conference, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said he “thinks things are moving in the right direction.”

Over the weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom secured additional federal assistance to help with the ongoing firefighting effort, his office said in a news release.

Cloud and smoke coverage allowed firefighters to increase containment lines around the Park Fire Saturday, but the challenges returned on Sunday, CalFire Incident Commander Billy See said.

While some areas were downgraded from evacuation orders to warnings, spot fires prevented officials from lifting or changing more orders and warnings, officials said.

“We are working really hard to get people back into their house as soon as possible,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

Conditions have not been favorable for crews, Yuba City Fire Department spokesperson and firefighter Jeremy Hollingshead told CNN.

“It was a wind-driven fire, it was a topography-driven fire, fuel-driven fire, everything was stacked against us,” Hollingshead said. “At that point in time, we threw everything we had at it, but again, we’re not going to put anybody at the head of this thing. What we had to do was put crews in the high-risk areas, where structures could possibly burn and do the best work they can there.”

He said firefighters took advantage of more favorable conditions to try to get a better handle on the blaze.

“Firefighters right now, from the sky to the ground, they’re taking advantage of the break we do have in the weather, so hopefully in the next few days we can mitigate a lot of that threat,” Hollingshead said.

Chico, California, the largest city in Butte County where the Park Fire is burning, will see temperatures in the low 90s Monday and Tuesday – a significant drop from the triple-digit temperatures of last week. Winds continue to decrease for the Park Fire area as well, with sustained winds below 10 mph Monday and as low as 5 mph by Tuesday.

There’s even a weak storm system approaching the Pacific Northwest that could bring showers. The amount of rainfall would be helpful, as it doesn’t lead to a high risk of flash flooding risk for burn scars.

Residents describe driving through flames of ‘angry fire’

The massive Park Fire – which authorities believe was caused by arson – has forced thousands of residents to flee their homes. The inferno was sparked Wednesday near Chico, California, and swallowed thousands of acres per hour, burned dozens of structures and left graveyards of burned trees and cars.

Retired Chico firefighter John Maretti said he lost his house in the Park Fire despite preparing as best he knew how.

“I bought a bulldozer. We cleared things out. We made sure that we had a Class A roof and non-flammable walls. We did a lot,” Maretti told CNN. “We had sprinklers. We had hoses. I mean, I’m a firefighter. I set this up for maximum opportunity for the house to make it and it did not.”

“There’s just no way that anybody could have survived with this house,” Maretti said.

Despite the destruction of his property, Maretti said he felt fortunate the household – including two dogs and a cat – had escaped unharmed – something he credited, in part, to breaking his ankle last Monday.

“I felt very capable staying. And I have hoses, I have all sorts of equipment, but with a broken ankle, there’s just no choice. I had to leave. And fortunately, because I had the broken ankle, I probably saved my life, because I probably would have stayed and tried to fight it, which would have been the wrong decision,” he said.

Maretti said the speed at which the fire had spread wasn’t what he was used to.

“This was just a lot faster fire than I’d ever seen,” Maretti said. “This is just an angry fire, and completely different than anything I’ve ever seen before.”

A Tehama County resident told CNN affiliate KOVR about fleeing the Park Fire on the only exit road out of their neighborhood – which the blaze had already jumped.

“When we saw the fire coming over the ridge, which it did, it was coming at us. We thought that was bad. And then we put everything in the car and took off,” Jim Young told KOVR.

“We get on the highway and it is burning on both sides for 10 miles. It was like driving through an inferno.”

The Park Fire is burning in Butte County, where California’s deadliest wildfire, the Camp Fire, killed more than 85 people and destroyed thousands of homes in 2018.

Bruce Hey and his brother-in-law Christopher Apel told KOVR that the blaze had forced them to evacuate their adjoining properties in the Cohasset area.

“We had a lot of people who were staying there from the Camp Fire and … and everything is burning,” Apel said.

Hey said he drove through the blaze to safety, but burned his arm in the process.

“I tried to outrun it,” he said. “I wouldn’t have gotten burned if I hadn’t rolled down the window to look in the rearview mirror. I was right in the middle of it, and I was trying to put it in reverse.”

Around 17,000 evacuated due to wildfire in Jasper, Alberta

Jasper, a popular tourist town in the middle of Alberta’s Jasper National Park, has suffered widespread destruction due to the Jasper Wildlife Complex Fire, which has scorched nearly 80,000 acres.

Almost 40% of all structures in the city have been destroyed by the blaze, according to data released Saturday by the Municipality of Jasper.

Of the 1,113 structures in the town, 410 were reported destroyed, and 10 sustained visible damage, the Jasper Rapid Visual Damage Assessment said. But critical infrastructure “has been protected,” Stephen Carr, field operations director at the Alberta Emergency Management Agency, said at a Monday afternoon news conference.

While the fire remains out of control in the park, firefighters have extinguished all structural hot spots within the town of Jasper, according to Carr. Around 17,000 people have evacuated from Jasper, he said.

Across Alberta’s forest protection area, a total of 124 fires are still burning as of Monday afternoon, according to Alberta Wildfire Public Information Officer Melissa Story. Of those, 25 are out of control, 47 are “being held,” and 52 are under control.

CNN’s Cindy Von Quednow, Robert Shackelford, Jamiel Lynch, Camila Bernal, Emma Tucker, Paradise Afshar and Sarah Moon contributed to this report.

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