Crews fight hot spots as blaze pushes east toward Sierra towns in Butte
The Park Fire, which started Wednesday near Chico, and has forced evacuation warnings and orders as far northeast as the Shingletown-Manton area and into Lassen Volcanic National Park, has slowed its growth thanks to favorable weather conditions.
The fire tore through Butte and Tehama counties for three days before crews were able to leverage lower temperatures and calmer winds Saturday to stop the fire from entering Shasta County.
The fire had burned 353,194 acres as of Sunday morning as it only grew about 3,000 acres overnight, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire is 12% contained.
The Park Fire is the seventh-largest wildfire in state history, Cal Fire said.
Officials also have downgraded their estimate of structures destroyed from more than 100 to 66, but they do expect that number to grow.
Readers, scroll down for the latest updates on Sunday, July 29.
An assessment team was on the ground this weekend surveying and confirming the damage from the fire. Cal Fire’s report on Saturday night listed 20 destroyed structures, but that count grew to 66 on Sunday morning.
Read more: Park Fire reminder of changing climate’s impact on California
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared an emergency last Friday due to the damage from the blaze.
12:30 p.m.: Crews battle spot fires as Park Fire grows some more
Firefighters are battling at least five spot fires along Highway 32 in the area of Humboldt Road, according to emergency scanner traffic. The area is north of Forest Ranch near Lomo in Butte County.
Dispatch reports between firefighters say that crews are worried about the fire going into the Butte Meadows area.
Meanwhile, the fire has grown to 357,341 acres up, about 4,000 acres from Sunday morning. It is still 12% contained.
8:30 a.m.: Weather helps slow fire’s explosive growth
High humidity levels and low to moderate winds have helped firefighters grow containment on the fire, Park Fire public information officer Jeremy Hollingshead said Sunday.
“We have been going direct and really using weather to our advantage. The men and women have worked hard to try to put this thing to bed as soon as possible,” he said.
The fire has forced evacuation warnings and orders in four counties: Butte, Tehama, Shasta and Plumas counties.
The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday morning said current evacuation orders and warnings in Shasta remain unchanged from Saturday.
Smoke from the Park Fire rise over the sky and covers the sun as the sun set west of Highway 36 on Friday, July 26, 2024. The blaze continued to have explosive growth after it was sparked on Wednesday in the Chico area. The fire raced north through forestland fueled by bone dry conditions that have resulted from California’s extreme hot weather in July. It jumped the highway near Paynes Creek.
Meanwhile, the fire has burned about 5,000 acres north of Highway 36, but crews have stopped the blaze from entering Manton and going into Shasta County, Hollingshead said.
“The fire is holding up on a ridge in the Manton area. We have dozer lines, retardant lines and crews are going direct on that area to ensure that it is not going to go further north,” he said.
Read more: Park Fire threatens Lassen Park’s Manzanita Lake campground, historic district
The northeast portion of the fire continues to be the most active, Cal Fire said.
Hollingshead said weather will again help firefighters on Sunday.
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“For the Tehama-Shasta zone, the weather will be partly cloudy,” he said, adding that the relative humidity will be around 30% in the area of the fire. “That’s a lot better than we were getting the first two days of the fire.”
Hollingshead said there are nearly 4,000 firefighters on the blaze with crews coming from out the state.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Park Fire near Shasta: Wildfire moves toward Butte County towns
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