Wildfires prompt California evacuations as crews battle Oregon and Idaho fires stoked by lightning

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Rapidly growing wildfires prompted evacuations in Northern and Southern California on Thursday, while some Oregon residents were cleared to return home after a thunderstorm dropped welcome rain but also potentially dangerous lightning on the largest active blaze in the United States. Another fast-moving wildfire forced thousands to abandon a town in Canada.

Evacuations were ordered in California’s Butte and Tehama counties as crews battled a fire reported near Chico just before 3 p.m. Wednesday. The blaze, dubbed the Park Fire, quickly spread from about 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) to more than 70 square miles (180 square kilometers) and was only 3% contained early Thursday, according to CAL FIRE. The cause was under investigation.

In eastern Oregon, evacuation orders were lifted Thursday for the city of Huntington, population 500, after a severe thunderstorm late Wednesday brought some rain and cooler temperatures to the nearly 630 square miles (1,630 square kilometers) burned by the Durkee Fire – the nation’s biggest – and another nearby blaze. Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash called the rain a “godsend,” but residents were warned to be ready to go again at a moment’s notice.

Officials remain concerned that lightning from the storm — which brought wind gusts of up to 75 mph — could spark new blazes. More than 2,800 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were detected across southeast Oregon and Idaho on Wednesday alone, the National Weather Service in Boise said Thursday.

“Every little spark could get out of hand very easily. It could be a really hazardous situation very fast,” Cantin said. “Don’t light anything on fire, and be very careful around grass.”

The Durkee Fire was burning near the Oregon-Idaho state line, shutting down a stretch of Interstate 84 and leaving ranchers in the largely rural area fighting to save their cattle and grasslands their herds rely upon for food.

In northern California, fire personnel were focusing on evacuations and defending structures while using bulldozers to build containment lines ahead of the Park Fire, which burned more than 70 square miles (180 square kilometers) near Chico. No deaths or damage to structures had been reported, CAL FIRE/ Butte County Fire Department said in a late Wednesday update.

In the Canadian Rockies’ largest national park, a fast-moving wildfire this week hit the town of Jasper, forcing thousands to flee and causing significant damage in the World Heritage Site. That blaze, as well as those in the western United States, have forced some areas to declare air quality alerts or advisories as skies filled with smoke and haze.

Patrick Nauman, the owner of Weiser Classic Candy in the small town of Weiser, Idaho, near the Oregon border, said driving into town Wednesday morning was “like driving into a fog bank, because it’s so thick and low to the road.”

Nauman’s shop is on the main intersection in town and is typically a popular spot to stop for lunch or a sugar fix, but customer traffic has dropped by half in the past few days as thick smoke and triple-digit temperatures dogged the region.

“Yesterday you could smell it, taste it, it just kind of hung in the back of your throat,” Nauman said of the smoke.