OROVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters lined roads to keep flames from reaching homes as helicopters dropped water on a growing wildfire Wednesday in Northern California that has forced at least 13,000 people to evacuate, with another day of extreme heat expected.
The Thompson fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Sacramento, in and around the city of Oroville, in Butte County. It sent up a huge plume of smoke and grew to nearly 4.7 square miles (12.1 square kilometers) by Wednesday morning. It was zero percent contained.
A state of emergency was declared Tuesday night by the city of about 20,000 people along the Feather River at the foot of the Sierra Nevada. Evacuation centers were set up at a church and the county fairgrounds.
There was no immediate official report on property losses. An Associated Press photographer saw fire burn three adjacent suburban-style homes in Oroville.
The fire ignited sprigs of grass poking from the concrete edges of Lake Oroville as gusty winds whipped up American flags lining a bend of the state’s second largest reservoir and the nation’s tallest dam.
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