In the US state of California, a wildfire that started Friday has quickly become the largest fire of the year so far. The McKinney fire, near the Oregon border, grew to over 20,000 acres in 48 hours. 2,000 people have been evacuated and Governor Gavin Newsom has declared an emergency for the area.
The evacuations also included at least 60 hikers hiking the remote Pacific Coast Trail in the area. That route runs from the southern border with Mexico through California, Oregon and Washington to the border with Canada. The hikers were not in immediate danger, according to the authorities, but because of the unpredictability of the fire, they were picked up by emergency services as a precaution.
There are so-called ‘red flag’ weather conditions in the area, which make fighting the fire difficult. This mainly concerns heat, drought and strong winds, which make the fire spread easily.
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Biggest fire
In recent weeks, the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park was the biggest fire of the year. The fire is now 19,000 hectares in size and 65 percent under control. Dozens of houses have been destroyed by the fire. There were no injuries.
California’s largest wildfire ever occurred in 2021. The Dixie fire reduced nearly a million acres to ashes as well as 1,329 buildings. The deadliest wildfire in California history is the 2018 Camp fire that killed 85 and destroyed 18,804 buildings.
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