About 16,000 residents were under evacuation orders July 3 in and around Oroville, a rural town in Northern California, as fire crews tried to contain a wildfire that has exploded to nearly 3,600 acres—about 5.6 square miles—and remained uncontained.
Oroville, the county seat of Butte County, declared a local emergency Wednesday as thousands of residents in the small town fled to escape the Thompson fire’s smoke and flames.
State officials say the fire started in vegetation around 11 a.m. Tuesday at the junction of Cherokee and Thompson Flat roads in Oroville—a town of about 20,000 about 70 miles north of Sacramento.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Cal Fire reported in an update Wednesday afternoon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Management (Cal Fire).
More than 1,400 fire personnel were on scene with 199 fire engines, 46 bulldozers, and eight helicopters.
Officials were not able to say whether any structures had burned, according to Butte County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Megan McMann.
“They’ll need to get a damage assessment,” Ms. McMann told The Epoch Times.
No injuries or fatalities were reported as of Wednesday afternoon, Ms. Mann added. She confirmed that about 16,000 residents were under evacuation orders.
Those evacuated lived mostly in Kelly Ridge, a neighborhood of about 3,000 people nestled among trees and a nearby lake in Oroville.
Kelly Ridge resident Robert Newcomb, an administrator of the Kelly Ridge Community Facebook page, told his neighbors he didn’t know when the evacuation order would be lifted.
Butte County has witnessed the devastating effects of wildfire in the recent past. Oroville is only 20 miles away from Paradise, California, a town that was nearly destroyed in the state’s deadliest wildfire—the 2018 Camp fire—which burned more than 153,000 acres and killed 85 people.
Shelters Opened
The county opened shelters at the Oroville church of the Nazarene on Monte Vista Avenue and the Gridley Fairgrounds in Gridley. Both locations are still open to take in residents.Public health nurses and behavioral health staff are available at the fairgrounds.
A large-animal shelter was also opened at the Camelot Equestrian Park in Oroville. A small-animal shelter was opened in Oroville but has reached capacity, according to Butte County. The county is working to open another facility for small animals.
Butte County residents were warned about poor air quality in the area.
The county is offering residents free N-95 respirator masks to deal with the smoke and worsening air quality.
“Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of air pollutants that are harmful to human health,” the county’s spokeswoman Kristi Olio said in a press release Wednesday. “Exposure to air pollutants in wildfire smoke can irritate the eyes and airways, causing cough, a dry scratchy throat, runny nose, trouble breathing, and irritated sinuses.”
Fireworks Canceled
The California State Parks canceled its Fourth of July fireworks celebration in Oroville on Wednesday for public safety reasons, the department announced on X. Donations made to the Oroville Chamber of Commerce for fireworks will be used for a community fireworks show at a later and safer date, according to state park officials.The state also closed sections of the Lake Oroville State Recreation Area to allow staff to focus on fire suppression and protecting the community, according to the notice. The state anticipates the parks will remain closed until Friday, but that could be extended depending on fire conditions.
The North Forebay Day Use Area, where the fireworks were being planned, is being used to coordinate agencies from all over Northern California to help with the fire.
Several of the park’s day-use areas and trails will be closed for an extended time as repairs are made, the department announced. That includes the Burma Day Use Area and several miles of the Brad Freeman and Dan Beebe trails in the Diversion Pool and Lakeland areas.
