A California man was arrested on Thursday, charged with igniting the state's most extensive wildfire this year , allegedly by shoving a flaming vehicle into a ravine. Fires continue to ravage across the Pacific Northwest.
The conflagration sparked by the suspect's actions has ballooned into the colossal Park Fire, devouring over 70 square miles (180 square kilometers) near Chico. Both Butte and Tehama counties faced urgent evacuations as the inferno simmered at only 3% containment early Thursday.
The perpetrator's identity remains under wraps by officials.
Meanwhile in California , residents brace for more turmoil, while some Oregonians breathe a sigh of relief after being given the green light to head back to their dwellings. A recent thunderstorm quenched the flames and doused potential fire-stoking lightning strikes on America's largest live wildfire .
Northwards, Canadians flee en masse as another blaze charges through their town with ferocity.
Over in eastern Oregon, folks in the town of Huntington, a community of 500 souls, saw evacuation mandates lifted Thursday following a severe thunderstorm that brought a drop in temperature and showers, aiding firefighters against the monstrous Durjee Fire, which spans nearly 630 square miles (1,630 square kilometers), and its neighboring firestorm. Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash declared the rainfall a "godsend," yet cautioned locals to remain vigilant for swift departures if required.
Officials are worried that the storm's lightning - which brought wind gusts of up to 75 mph - could ignite new fires. The National Weather Service in Boise reported on Thursday that more than 2,800 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were detected across southeast Oregon and Idaho on Wednesday alone.
The lightning strikes along the Oregon-Idaho border sparked 15 new fires overnight in Idaho, according to the US Forest Service as told to Boise's KBOI-TV, but several had already been put out. In total, nearly 1 million acres (1,562 square miles) have burned this summer in the Pacific Northwest.
Oregon alone has 34 large fires, almost all of them in the eastern part of the state far from.
Climate change is causing an increase in the frequency of wildfires ignited by lightning across the Pacific Northwest and western Canada as the region experiences record-breaking heat, with many days reaching triple digits and conditions remaining extremely dry. For the first time, Idaho Power conducted a pre-emptive power outage, cutting off electricity to thousands of customers to prevent new fire starts and other power grid issues from wires downed by the high winds, the utility said.
While the storms are bringing cooler air, the wind could fuel more fires, warned Mike Cantin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boise.
"Every little spark could get out of hand very easily. It could be a really hazardous situation very fast," Cantin cautioned. "Don't light anything on fire, and be very careful around grass."
The Durkee Fire, raging near the Oregon-Idaho border, has forced a shutdown of a section of Interstate 84 and left ranchers scrambling to protect their cattle and the grasslands vital for their sustenance.
Alison Oszman, whose home in Rye Valleya quaint ranching community north of Huntingtonfaced the fire's wrath last week, managed to safeguard her property with assistance from Bureau of Land Management firefighters and neighbors. They employed small tanker trucks and shovels, and even a diminutive bulldozer to fend off the flames from her residence, she recounted.
With her land already scorched and thus secure, a neighbor transferred his horses and cattle to her property as the inferno edged closer to his ranch, Oszman explained. On Wednesday evening, she inspected his land only to discover that the fire had descended a steep hillside, menacing his abode.
"I went and parked our truck out in the field just in case those big trees by his house caught fire," she disclosed. "I was making sure sparks didn't land in the dirt or the dry grass. But as the fire skirted his house, it started raining."
The downpour proved advantageous, aiding the firefighters in gaining control over the fire.
"It was pretty scary but everything seemed to fall into place," she reflected. "Everybody helped everybody. It was actually pretty amazing for how crummy it really was."
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