California’s Park Fire grows 7 times larger in hours as Oregon battles country’s biggest active fire

Originally Published: 25 JUL 24 05:44 ET

Updated: 25 JUL 24 08:14 ET

By Dalia Faheid, Robert Shackelford and Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN

(CNN) — The largest active wildfire in the United States has scorched almost 270,000 acres in eastern Oregon, as nearly 80 large active wildfires are burning in the US, including a California blaze that exploded in size overnight. Here’s the latest:

• The Oregon fire is 0% contained: The Durkee Fire – which has already burned an area larger than the city of Indianapolis – started on July 17 near the Oregon-Idaho state line. Amid high temperatures, extremely dry vegetation and strong winds, the fire has grown tens of thousands of acres since Sunday and is 0% contained as of Thursday morning.

• Durkee Fire threatens nearby communities: Three people were injured and two homes and 12 other structures were destroyed as the fire spread, according to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. Officials have asked some residents to evacuate. Some communities do not have power, according to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, who has deployed resources from the National Guard to assist.

• California battles its own blaze: The Park Fire in California has exploded to 71,000 acres – growing 7 times larger just over four hours overnight – and is 3% contained, according to CalFire. The blaze has forced mandatory evacuations in Butte County, where the state’s deadliest wildfire, the Camp Fire, killed more than 80 people in 2018.

• Two fires threaten national park in Canada: The flames closing in on the nation’s largest national park from two directions sent visitors and residents fleeing the town of Jasper in Alberta, where buildings are burned. Officials say the losses are significant.

Oregon fires ‘scaled up quickly’

The lightning-sparked Durkee Fire is the largest of 31 large wildfires currently burning across Oregon, which has been the hardest hit by fires in recent days.

Officials in Malheur County and Baker County issued evacuations for areas around the Durkee Fire. Meanwhile, dense smoke from the flames impeded traffic on Interstate 84, leading to periodic closure of the freeway.

Kotek called it a “dynamic situation.”

“The wildfires in Eastern Oregon have scaled up quickly,” Kotek said in a news release. “We are facing strong erratic winds over the region that could impact all fires. Rain is not getting through. Some communities do not have power.”

More than 500 firefighters and resources from 22 states are working to fight the fire,  according to InciWeb.

“We have been at this for a number of days, and those days just seem to keep getting harder and harder with the weather that we’re seeing in our area and the intense fire behavior,” Sarah Sherman of the Bureau of Land Management said in a video update.

Over the weekend and earlier this week, the Durkee Fire exhibited extreme fire behavior, even creating it’s own weather in the form of pyrocumulus clouds.

The clouds form over heat sources due to the intense, upward vertical motion of air cooling and condensing as it moves higher into the sky. They can reach heights of 50,000 feet and generate their own systems of thunderstorms.

If fires burn hot enough, they can create clouds that produce lighting and rain, called pyrocumulonimbus.

“Over the last week, firefighters have been challenged by hot temperatures and gusty winds that continue to push several wildfires across the state,” the Oregon State Fire Marshal said.

Wildfire smoke, including from the Durkee Fire in Oregon, was spreading into Boise and beyond. Air quality alerts have been issued for parts of Colorado, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

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

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

A cold front has moved through the area Thursday morning, bringing high temperatures to the 80s on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. A red flag warning, which indicates increased risk of fire danger, has expired.

CNN Meteorologist Taylor Ward contributed to this report.

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