A major wildfire is raging out of control in northern California, which in three days has become one of the largest ever recorded in this western US state, authorities said yesterday, Saturday.

The fire dubbed the “Park Fire” — the largest to occur in California this summer — had already burned nearly 1.4 million acres by late yesterday morning, making it the seventh largest in state history, California’s forestry and fire protection agency CalFire said.

The fire, which forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate their homes, broke out in a rural and mountainous area near the small town of Chico, which is about 145 kilometres north of Sacramento, the state capital.

“The extreme conditions of this fire continue to challenge firefighters. It is currently still raging unchecked,” despite suppression efforts involving some 2,500 people, more than ten helicopters and several aircraft, according to CalFire.

“The ‘Park Fire’ is still raging very intensely due to steep terrain and winds (…) causing a lot of amplification” of the front, CalFire explained.

However, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection added in its statement that cooler temperatures and more moisture are expected in the region, which could help slow the fire’s spread.

Police have arrested a 42-year-old suspect in connection with the fire, who was seen pushing and throwing a car that had caught fire into a canyon.

The fire broke out Wednesday near Chico, in Butte County, and within hours destroyed a huge area of the county, as well as its neighboring Tehama County.

According to the latest information released, 134 buildings have been burnt so far, while smoke from the fire has reached neighbouring states.

Like other residents, Julia Yarbrough saw her home burn to ashes. “This is what’s left of my house,” she told CBS, pointing to the ruins of her home from which smoke was still billowing.

The massive wildfire is causing bad memories for residents of the town of Paradise, which is about 10 miles from Chico and where 85 people died in 2018 in the deadliest wildfire in California history.

Due to the very rapid spread of the Park Fire, Paradise is now on alert for the possibility that evacuation may be necessary.

US President Joe Biden has been briefed on this large fire and has instructed his team to do everything they can to support efforts to extinguish it, a White House official said.

The Park Fire is the largest fire of dozens of active wildfire fronts raging in the U.S., which have burned more than about 8 million acres, according to the National Interagency Firefighting Center.

In the state of Oregon, several wildfires are raging, including the Durkee Fire, which has burned more than 1.1 million acres in the eastern part of the state, according to authorities.

A firefighter died in the crash of a single-engine small firefighting aircraft near the fire, dubbed the Falls Fire, in southeastern Oregon state, the U.S. fire service said Friday.

This is the second firefighter death in an aircraft crash in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, a pilot was reported to have died in firefighting efforts outside Helena, Montana.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the causes of both plane crashes, but the investigation to determine exactly what went wrong could take several months.

After two rainy winters, the western U.S. has faced several heat waves since June, which dry out new vegetation from the rains and foster the spread of wildfires.

The recurring heat waves are an indicator of rising global temperatures, which is linked to climate change caused by humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels, according to scientists. /