Thousands battle US wildfires as smoke puts millions under air quality alerts
- The ‘Park Fire’ had scorched swathes of inland northern California on Sunday, with smoke and haze and contributing to poor air quality
Wildfires across the western United States and Canada put millions of people under air quality alerts on Sunday as thousands of firefighters battled the flames, including the largest wildfire in California this year.
The so-called Park Fire had scorched more than 1,430 sq km (550 square miles) of inland northern California as of Sunday morning, darkening the sky with smoke and haze and contributing to poor air quality in a large swathe of the Northwestern US and western Canada.
Although the sprawling blaze was only 12 per cent contained, cooler temperatures and increased humidity could help crews battle the fire, which has drawn comparisons to the 2018 Camp Fire that tore through the nearby community of Paradise, killing 85 people and torching 11,000 homes.
Paradise and several other Butte County communities were under an evacuation warning on Sunday.
However, Cal Fire operations section chief Jeremy Pierce had some good news for the area, saying that the Park Fire’s southernmost front, which is closest to Paradise, was “looking really good”, with crews focusing on mopping up the area over the next three days. He also said they do not expect it to move further into Chico, a city of about 100,000 people just west of Paradise.