New wildfires start as crews gain containment on existing ones in Northern California

(FOX40.COM) — California’s wildfire season began aggressively this year and has continued into the second half of the year as the state is also dealing with a prolonged heat wave. On Friday, CAL FIRE indicated more than 230 wildland fires had ignited on the Fourth of July.

Summers in California typically mean constant fires sprouting around the state, and this year is no different, with multiple fires actively burning, although many are in isolated areas and are at most a few dozen or hundred acres in size.

According to CAL FIRE, more than 145,000 acres have burned so far this year , nearly five times the five-year average up to Friday’s date, July 5.

Here’s a recap of the major wildfires impacting Northern California and their status as July wraps up its first week.

Thompson Fire

The Thompson Fire broke out on July 2 and has been burning northeast of Oroville, at one point forcing nearly 30,000 people to evacuate their homes, although many of these orders have been relaxed.

The blaze is completely inside of Butte County and about 20 miles from where the deadly Camp Fire happened in 2018.

After several days of little to no containment, crews have been able to quickly begin containing the Thompson Fire, achieving nearly 50% containment in two days and limiting the blaze to under 4,000 acres, about the size of a university campus.

The Grubbs Fire started the day after the Thompson Fire and burned in an area just a few miles south of it until it was fully contained within a day, reaching only 10 acres.

Moccasin Fire

The Moccasin Fire started on Tuesday afternoon south of Placerville in El Dorado County and quickly led to evacuation orders being issued in some communities, although these have all been lifted.

By Friday afternoon, the Moccasin Fire had reached 51 acres, slightly larger than Capitol Park in Sacramento, and was 60% contained.

French Fire

The French Fire began on the evening of the Fourth of July alongside the community of Mariposa in Mariposa County and by Friday afternoon had reached nearly 850 acres, a size slightly larger than the community.

Parts of the community are under evacuation orders, although the blaze has been more active on its eastern side, in the direction of Yosemite National Park.

Basin Fire

This fire started on June 26 in eastern Fresno County and has continued to burn since then, reaching more than 14,000 acres, nearly the size of the city of Folsom.

Evacuation orders and warnings are in place, although the area is primarily rural.

The Fresno June Lightning Complex , a group of several fires that began during a thunderstorm on June 26, has been burning in an area just a few miles southwest of the Basin Fire but is almost completely contained.

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