Thompson Fire: 13,000 residents under evacuation orders as Northern California blaze grows

Latest on Thompson Fire: Four homes destroyed, 13k remain evacuated as blaze burns 3,000 acres in Butte County

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Two wildfires that sparked Tuesday in Northern California have prompted mandatory evacuations amid bone-dry vegetation heated up by extremely high temperatures and gusty winds.

The Thompson Fire, which was reported shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday on the outskirts of Oroville in Butte County, had burned 2,136 acres as of 5:20 p.m., according to Cal Fire. The area south of Oroville Lake and several miles downhill from areas that had been de-energized as part of PG&E’s public safety power shutoff around Concow.

Cal Fire officials had said there was a spot fire that was about 30 to 40 acres across the diversion pool in the Lakeland Boulevard area. Cal Fire mapping of the blaze showed the spot fire south of the Feather River had grown significantly by mid-afternoon, but most of the Thompson Fire was still burning along on the north of the river.

The fire conditions in the Oroville area are much different than the past two summers, said Cal Fire Butte Unit Chief Garrett Sjolund. This summer, he said, the vegetation that can fuel a wildfire is dense and dry.

“Any wind will move a fire out very quickly,” Sjolund said during a 6 p.m. news conference.

Authorities have issued dozens of evacuation orders throughout the day, some of them well within the Oroville city limits, as the wildfire grew from 15 acres to more than 2,100 acres (3.3 square miles) within six hours of its start.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said about 13,000 residents living in 32 zones had been told to evacuate on Tuesday, and residents in 16 additional zones remained under a evacuation warning.

By noon Tuesday, the fire had grown to 40 acres and flames were threatening infrastructure such as power supply and water supply to the Oroville area, Sjolund said.

Cal Fire investigators had not determined a cause of the Thompson Fire as of Tuesday evening.

Evacuations in and near Oroville

Oroville Hospital at 257 Olive Highway is in zone 964, one of the zones that remained under an evacuation warning at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Raquel Harp, executive assistant to the chief executive officer at the hospital, said hospital staff was “sheltering in place and taking care of the patients.”

The Sheriff’s Office said zones 965 south of Highway 162, 804, 805, 811, 816, 806, 807, 801, 808, 809 and 810 also were under an evacuation warning due to the Thompson Fire.

At 11:35 a.m., the Butte County Sheriff’s Office issued a mandatory evacuation order for people in Zone 536 in the Cherokee area of Oroville due to the Thompson Fire. The evacuation order included the area of Cherokee Road north of Thermalito Power Canal and the area north past Big O Road to just south of Oregon Gulch Road.

Five minutes later the Sheriff’s Office issued an evacuation warning for people in Zone 731 in northeast Oroville. But that warning in Zone 731 was upgraded to a mandatory evacuation order shortly after noon Tuesday, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Zone 731 includes the area of Feather River at the Diversion Dam, east to Oroville Dam Boulevard East Diversion pool, south to Long Bar Road/Brereton Way. The warning also includes the areas of Long Bar Court, Almond Street, Colina Way, Lausen Street, Lakeland Boulevard, Incline Avenue, Gold Avenue, Perkins Street and Reyman Street.

At 12:50 p.m., the Sheriff’s Office announced mandatory evacuation orders were issued for zones 534, 535, 953 and 954 in Butte County. A temporary evacuation shelter has been opened at the Oroville Church of the Nazarene at 2238 Monte Vista Ave. in Oroville, sheriff’s officials said.

As of 2:45 p.m., sheriff’s officials have issued evacuation orders for zones 965 north of Highway 162, 958, 959, 960, 730, 800, 851, 700 through 716; all areas southeast of where the fire was burning in Butte County. Only Zone 964 remains under an evacuation warning.

Honea said every mutual aid agency in the county was providing the Sheriff’s Office with assistance on the Thompson Fire, including the Chico Police Department which also was responding to the sheriff’s priority calls in the northern part of the county. He said 20 law enforcement agencies outside Butte County were sending 75 law enforcement officials to assist.

The sheriff said deputies and other law enforcement officials will be patrol overnight to ensure safety and prevent looting in the evacuated zones. Some residents did not evacuate when they ordered to leave, and the sheriff said those residents must stay indoors and be ready to leave if the fire gets closer.

“If you’re out and about driving around, expect to be stopped by one of those law enforcement officers,” Honea said at the news conference. “And if turns into an issue where you’re continuing to drive around and creating a problem for us, you will be escorted out (of the evacuated zones).”

Fire burns to Oroville Dam’s spillway

At 4:30 p.m., the California Department of Water Resources announced that it is closely monitoring the fire, which started just north of its Oroville Field Division facilities. Several facilities are under evacuation orders issued by Butte sheriff’s officials, including the Hyatt Powerplant facility, the division main office on Glen Drive and the Lake Oroville Visitor Center in Kelly Ridge.

“At this time, staff have been evacuated from impacted facilities, with essential staff relocated to the Thermalito Pumping-Generating Plant,” the state agency said in a Facebook post. “While State Water Project operations can continue remotely, Hyatt Powerplant is currently offline due to deenergized high-voltage powerlines operated by PG&E... There are no risks to Oroville Dam.”

Oroville Dam’s main spillway has been reopened to maintain water releases and temperature control in the Feather River. The state agency said the Thompson Fire had progressed to the area of Oroville Dam’s main spillway, and DWR has provided access to fire and emergency personnel.

The Feather River Fish Hatchery continues to have power to maintain hatchery operations with an available emergency backup generator. The state agency has carried out precautionary measures, including wetting down potentially at-risk areas with water trucks, placing backup generators at key field division facilities and creating staffing plans to continue managing State Water Project operations remotely upon evacuation.

The Cal Fire Butte Unit chief said the wildfire was holding north of the Long Bar Road area, and firefighters have contained the spot fire south of the river in the Rusty Dusty Road area.

“Our first priority is holding the fire at the Oroville Dam and keeping it out of Kelly Ridge,” Sjolund said Tuesday evening.

He said the second priority for Cal Fire is focused on the two heads of the fire, one moving up toward the Cherokee Road area and the other near Red Tape Road where firefighters are trying to hold it below the Oregon City area.

The fire on the western end of the blaze, closer to Oroville, was more stable Tuesday evening.

“The fire (on the west end) is holding,” Sjolund said. “We don’t anticipate growth there as we move through the night.”

There were 14 aircraft, more than 50 fire engines, 15 bulldozers and 11 grounds crews on Tuesday battling the Thompson Fire. Three helicopters would be dropping water to assist ground crews overnight. More firefighting resources were expected to arrive in the area Wednesday.

As the Fourth of July holiday approaches, Sjolund warned residents that fireworks are banned in Butte County, and only legal fireworks are allowed in the cities of Oroville, Biggs and Gridley.

The sheriff also warned residents about using fireworks as Northern California’s current heatwave intensifies and increases the risk of a dangerous wildfire.

“This is a bad fire season,” Honea said. “Don’t be an idiot and cause a fire and create more problems for us.”

The Thompson Fire was burning just west of where the Bar Fire burned 36 acres since Thursday and was now 100% contained, according to Cal Fire.

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for areas of the Sacramento Valley and northern Sierra Nevada foothills. The warning, which is issued when there’s a forecast for a long period of dry weather creating potentially critical conditions for a wildfire, will be in effect from 11 p.m. Monday through 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Wind-driven fire halted in Napa County

The Toll Fire, which started about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday off of Old Lawley Toll Road and north of Calistoga in Napa County, and spreading in a southwesterly direction. Cal Fire officials said the Tolls Fire is wind-driven and burning side-slope along the terrain to the southwest and is still east of Silverado Trail. About 300 firefighters were battling the fire, which sparked south of parcels along the Napa-Lake county line that PG&E had shut off amid the high fire danger.

About 12:45 p.m., Cal Fire officials said crews were actively engaged in the firefight and working to construct control lines from both the air and the ground.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, the firefighters had stopped forward progress on the Toll Fire, said Jason Clay, a spokesman for the Cal Fire Sonoma-Lake-Lake-Napa unit. Clay said mapping had more accurately measured the fire to 40.6 acres. The fire was initially reported as 50 acres of burned vegetation.

The Napa County Sheriff’s Office issued mandatory evacuation orders for zones NPA-E103 and NPA-E113, and evacuation warnings for zones NPA-E104 and NPA-E105. Cal Fire said more than 100 people were in the Toll Fire evacuation order and warning zones.

A cooling station and evacuation point has been set up at the Calistoga Community Center, 1307 Washington St.

Another blaze, the Denverton Fire, near Travis Air Force Base had charred at least 25 acres Tuesday but had prompted no evacuations by 1 p.m.