Thousands of homes in Northern California’s wine country and central Oregon were under evacuation orders and warnings Sunday as firefighters worked to contain fast-moving wildfires during a stretch of hot, dry weather, according to state officials.
In California, the Pickett Fire had burned about 10 square miles of Napa County by Sunday evening and was only 11% contained, Cal Fire reported.
The blaze started Thursday in a remote part of the county during a week of high heat. The cause remains under investigation.
Roughly 150 residents were ordered to leave their homes, while another 360 were under evacuation warnings.
Authorities said about 500 structures near Aetna Springs and Pope Valley, roughly 80 miles north of San Francisco, were threatened. Some evacuation orders were lifted later in the day.
More than 1,230 firefighters were on the lines with support from 10 helicopters.
Cal Fire spokesperson Jason Clay said weather conditions briefly eased over the weekend, but fire activity increased each afternoon.
“That’s been a driving factor in the afternoons since we’ve seen the fire activity pick up for the last three days,” he said, noting that winds and dropping humidity could intensify fire growth.
The Pickett Fire is burning in the same area as the Glass Fire in 2020, which destroyed more than 1,500 structures and spread across 105 square miles in Napa and Sonoma counties.
Clay explained that today’s fire is fueled by dry vegetation, including dead trees left behind by the 2020 fire and new brush that has since dried out.
In Oregon, the Flat Fire had grown to 29 square miles across Deschutes and Jefferson counties.
State officials said about 4,000 homes were under some level of evacuation notice, including 1,000 residents ordered to leave immediately.
Crews were challenged by steep canyon terrain, low humidity and triple-digit temperatures, according to the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jason Carr said grasses and juniper trees were burning rapidly, and sudden downdrafts from nearby thunderstorms could push flames in multiple directions.
The fire, which began Thursday night, spread quickly amid hot and gusty conditions.
Fire Marshals spokesperson Chris Schimmer warned that isolated thunderstorms drifting north from southern Oregon could spark new flare-ups or push the fire beyond containment lines.
Elsewhere in California, the state’s largest wildfire of the year — the Gifford Fire — was 95% contained by Sunday after burning nearly 206 square miles across San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties since Aug. 1.
The western United States has been in the grip of a heat wave, with temperatures topping 100 degrees in parts of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona and Southern California.
Health officials confirmed that the extreme heat sent some residents to hospitals over the weekend.
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