Chico (Calif)

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    Scenes From the California Park Fire

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    Last Wednesday, a man pushed a burning car into a gully near Chico, a college town north of Sacramento, according to the authorities. Within days, the flames have consumed more than 370,000 acres and the Park fire has become the largest active blaze in the country.Thousands of people are under evacuation orders and at least 111 structures have been destroyed, according to Cal Fire.Residents of this part of California have dealt with one fire after another in recent years. In 2018, the Camp fire destroyed the town of Paradise and became the deadliest fire in state history. In 2021, the Dixie fire burned nearly a million acres. That history loomed large for Paul Mozzino, who was working an afternoon shift at a grocery store in Chico last week when he heard the alerts about a nearby fire. He thought, “Oh God, not again.”Here are photos from the last few days as the Park fire — already one of the largest in the state’s history — burned through this swath of Northern California.Loren Elliott for The New York TimesThe Park fire burned into the night in Butte County, northeast of Chico, on Sunday.Loren Elliott for The New York TimesA California Conservation Corps firefighter took part in a backfire operation on Monday.Noah Berger/Associated PressSmoke rose above the road as the Park fire jumped Highway 36 in Tehama County on Friday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesThe hills near Chico on Thursday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesA helicopter dropped water on the Park fire along Highway 32 in Butte County on Saturday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesThe plum of smoke from the Park fire on Friday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesA home destroyed by the Park fire in the Forest Ranch area in Butte County on Friday.John G Mabanglo/EPA, via ShutterstockThe burned remains of cars destroyed by the fire on Friday.Noah Berger/Associated PressThe Park fire burned below Highway 32 near Lomo on Friday.By Daniel Dreifuss For The New York TimesFirefighters set controlled burns along Highway 32 near Chico on Saturday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesA Cal Fire firefighter sprayed down hot spots along Highway 32 as the Park fire continued to grow on Saturday.Nic Coury/Associated PressA firefighter monitored a burn operation on Highway 32 near Forest Ranch on Sunday.Noah Berger/Associated PressHorses were evacuated as the Park fire tore though the Cohasset community in Butte County on Thursday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesA firefighter kept a close eye on a controlled burn along Highway 32 on Saturday.Daniel Dreifuss for The New York TimesFire trucks lined Highway 32 on Friday.Almendra Lawrence More

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      13,000 Are Ordered to Evacuate as Wildfire Spreads in Northern California

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      A wildfire that began in Butte County, Calif., on Tuesday morning has burned more than 3,000 acres and threatened residents of the city of Oroville.The authorities in Northern California ordered about 13,000 people in Butte County to evacuate on Tuesday night as a wildfire spread, burning more than 3,000 acres as of Wednesday morning.California’s firefighting agency, Cal Fire, said that the fire began on Tuesday morning and that its cause was under investigation. It was not clear how many structures had been damaged by the blaze, called the Thompson fire, but photos showed several homes and vehicles engulfed in flames. No fatalities had been reported as of Wednesday morning.Sheriff Kory Honea of Butte County said at a news conference on Tuesday night that about 13,000 people had been ordered to evacuate. Many of the evacuation orders affected the city of Oroville, Calif., which is about 68 miles north of Sacramento and has a population of about 20,000 people.Track Wildfires in the U.S.See where wildfires are currently burning.The fire risk in Northern California has been made worse this week by low humidity and gusty winds, which can cause fires to rapidly spread. Red flag fire warnings, meaning that the risk for wildfires is heightened by weather conditions, were in place in more than a dozen counties on Tuesday and Wednesday.There is also a dangerous heat wave in Northern California, with temperatures on Wednesday expected to reach 110 and higher in cities including Sacramento, Chico and Redding. The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning that affects most of Northern California, including Oroville.Butte County was the site of the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state’s history. The Camp fire in 2018 killed at least 85 people and destroyed more than 90 percent of the homes in Paradise, a small town about 20 miles north of Oroville.Last week, residents of the nearby town of Palermo were ordered to evacuate because of the Apache fire, which burned 691 acres and has been contained. More

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      California Has a Lot of Recall Attempts, and Not Just for Governors

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      While all eyes were on Gov. Gavin Newsom, a developer in Sonoma County was charging forward with an effort to recall the district attorney who had sued his company.All around California, other officials were facing recall campaigns, too. A member of the Fallbrook Union High School District board of trustees. A councilwoman in Kingsburg. A councilman in Morgan Hill. The mayors of Huntington Beach and Placerville, council members in Huntington Beach and Placerville, school board or board of education members in Chico, Santa Monica, Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Elk Grove and oh my goodness, are you tired yet?Recalls are a dime a dozen in California, and to read through the rationales for them is to confront a deluge of grievances, some serious and others remarkably petty.The recall efforts are because she voted against resuming full-time in-person schooling. Because of zoning disputes. Because she “has demonstrated a Marxist/socialist agenda.” Because of his homelessness policies. Because she declined to prosecute a police brutality case. Because he ostensibly “lacks mental competence.” Because she was convicted of welfare fraud several years before she was elected.If history is a guide, most of these campaigns will never come to a vote. But two, in addition to Mr. Newsom’s, will be on the ballot on Tuesday.The first is in wine country north of San Francisco, and its target is Jill Ravitch, the Sonoma County district attorney. The campaign is led by a local developer, Bill Gallaher, whose company was sued by her office in connection with the abandonment of residents of an assisted-living facility during a 2017 wildfire. (The case was ultimately settled.) Mr. Gallaher, who has said the recall is in service of “steady, competent leadership overseeing public safety in our county,” has bankrolled the campaign himself.The second is a convoluted saga concerning William Davis and Melissa Ybarra, who are on the City Council in Vernon and had backed a successful recall campaign this year against two other council members who had supported a solar and wind energy project whose developer was involved in an embezzlement investigation.Now those recalled council members, Diana Gonzales and Carol Menke, are supporting the new recall campaign, alleging — according to The Los Angeles Daily News — that Ms. Ybarra engaged in nepotism as the city’s housing commissioner and that Mr. Davis is mentally incompetent. Ms. Ybarra and Mr. Davis say the campaign is just retaliation.Before this year of two recall elections, Vernon — a city just southeast of Los Angeles that has a mere 108 residents — had never had one. More