California Firefighters Face Drier, Hotter Air Following Respite

(Bloomberg) -- Firefighters in California are bracing for hotter and drier conditions in coming weeks that may impede efforts to contain a massive wildfire after a brief respite from several days of cooler temperatures. 

The Park Fire, which authorities say was started by arson, has doubled in size since Friday, scorching more than 350,000 acres in four northern California counties — Butte, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama. The expansion has made it the largest active blaze in the state and one of the biggest in California’s history. 

The fire was 12% contained as of Sunday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. Almost 4,000 firefighters and other personnel have been working to tame the fast-moving blaze located about 85 miles (137 kilometers) north of Sacramento. The Park Fire has triggered evacuation orders and warnings and briefly threatened California’s power grid, damaging or destroying 71 structures. 

Temperatures are poised to rise again after cooling down across Northern California over the weekend.

“The fire is actively burning in heavy, receptive fuel beds,” Cal Fire said Sunday on its website. “This allows the fire to expand rapidly. Warm, windy, and dry conditions will increase risk of extreme fire activity, similar to what the fire has done previously. There will be higher temperatures and lower humidities today.”

Brian Thompson, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, also warned of worsening weather conditions in the coming week and into August. 

“It’ll start to turn hotter again and it may start to get closer to 100 degrees (38C) especially the second half of the upcoming week,” Thompson said. “The humidity may start to come down a little bit as well. So that could be more of a problem later in the week compared to what we’re seeing this weekend.”

The blaze is one of several raging across the Western US, with Oregon contending with the nearly 290,000-acre Durkee fire since a lightning strike on July 17. In Canada, Alberta’s resort town of Jasper and its iconic national park have also been engulfed in five devastating wildfires, two of which were classified as “out of control” as of Saturday, according to an official website monitoring the fires.

AccuWeather is also forecasting a hotter-and dryer-than-normal August, which could pose challenge in the longer term for efforts to contain the Park Fire, Thompson added.

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The blaze may take weeks, if not months to fully contain, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing a climate scientist. 

Govenor Gavin Newsom secured federal assistance for Tehama County on Saturday night, in addition to aid for Butte County.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the fire and directed his team to do everything possible the federal government can to help put it out, according to a White House official.

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