Heat wave, lightning could spark new blazes
SALEM, Ore. – A heat wave and the potential for lightning threatened the Pacific Northwest and Northern California on Thursday as firefighters battling multiple wildfires prepared for the chance of new blazes igniting.
Parts of Washington, Oregon and Northern California were under heat advisories or excessive heat warnings Thursday, and temperatures were expected to top 100 degrees over the next few days.
“It won’t be as hot as what we saw a month ago, but it’s still going to be pretty hot,” National Weather Service meteorologist John Bumgardner said.
The heat wave at the end of June caused hundreds of deaths in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, Canada.
In much of southern Oregon and parts of Northern California, a red flag warning was in place as lightning strikes “will likely result in new fire starts,” the weather service said.
Gusty thunderstorms are expected and could cause fires to spread.
“The system is expected to drop rain,” Bumgardner said. “The question will be whether it falls everywhere there are strikes and if it moves slow enough to prevent the fires that might be ignited.”
Half a dozen fires burning in Oregon have scorched more than 780 square miles. Across the West, there are 82 large fires burning 2,500 square miles in 13 states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
More than 21,500 wildland firefighters and support personnel are battling the fires.
The Bootleg Fire in Oregon, the thirdlargest in state history, has burned about 645 square miles since it was ignited by lightning in early July. The almost 2,000 firefighters working on the fire have it 53% contained.
Though rain this week helped stall the flames, the U.S. Forest Service said much of the dry vegetation that is the fire’s fuel rebounded quickly. “Heavy concentrations of fuels became active in the afternoon, highlighting the extreme resistance to extinguishment,” the Forest Service said.
Though the storms may have helped with one blaze, Umpqua National Forest saw 40 dry lightning strikes this week that ignited 21 fires.
At the California-Nevada border Wednesday, Govs. Gavin Newsom and Steve Sisolak called for more federal firefighting assistance as they toured damage from the Tamarack Fire.
“We need help on the federal side. We need more people coming in. We need more resources. We need more air support. We need more boots on the ground,” Nevada’s Sisolak said.
The Pinnacle Fire in Monterey County ignited Thursday, burning 100 acres near Pinnacles National Park, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire closed the western entrance and hiking trails in the park, and its cause remains under investigation.
Fire activity picked up Thursday in the Dixie Fire, the largest in the Golden State. Cal Fire said higher temperatures and lower humidity caused the increased blaze in the eastern part of the fire, between Lassen National Forest and the town of Paradise.