It was burned throughout California as the state continues to burn in multi-day heat waves, which are expected to last through the weekend.
The biggest name of the week is the Picket Fire, which exploded in a remote area of Napa County on Thursday, and by Friday afternoon, it covered 3,200 acres (850 hectares). Evacuation orders and warnings were issued Thursday against hundreds of residents around Calistoga, a small city known for its wines, as firefighters face challenging conditions, working on dangerous high temperatures and solid terrain. The fire contained only 5% of the periphery.
“Fireman Safety will again emphasize Friday, with temperatures expected to reach the 90s,” analysts at the state's Fire Department (Calfire) wrote in an update released on Friday.
Bob Todeschini, the head of the Pickett Fire, said in a video shared on social media on Thursday night that there were no injuries or structural damage. “We want to remind everyone to stay alert and to make plans as we continue to make repression,” he said.
With California’s worst multi-day heat wave of the year and fresh wildfires are coming, some cities have broken daily temperature records.
As the Pickett fire burned Thursday, the vineyards in Calistoga, California are located in California, California. Photo: Stephen Lam/AP
Fire risks remain high throughout the western United States, with high temperatures expected to last for several days. According to an analysis from the National Inter-Agency Fire Center released Friday, it is expected that most areas near and in the west of the Cascade and Sierra Mountains may be hot, dry and unstable in the Sierra Mountains along much of the Cascade and Sierra Mountains and the Sierra Mountains. ”
With low humidity and dry thunderstorms, more fires may ignite and grow rapidly.
NIFC statistics show that it has been a busy year, with more than 44,800 ignitions across the United States. Currently, more than 16,500 Wildland firefighters and support staff are fighting the total of approximately 912,400 acres.
Even after the heat wave subsides, the risk will remain. With the lowest moisture content in California and the Pacific Northwest, fire danger is expected to climb from next month to October. Vegetation is dangerously dry and full of vegetation in parts of Nevada, California, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming, according to the NIFC's recommendations.
The heat will bake moisture from the already burnt landscape and increase the potential for ignition, rapid shooting and extreme fire behaviors – also pose a major threat to public health.
The National Weather Service has issued extreme heat alerts throughout the region, extending from Arizona to Washington, warning that high temperatures could destroy many local daily records and “pose a threat to anyone without effective cooling and adequate hydration.”
Napa Valley firefighters looked like they were burning. The fast-moving wildfire charred thousands of acres in a few hours. Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
The sun also lingers after the setting, with almost no probation overnight. High night temperatures will challenge fires that break out and increase the danger of people who cannot enter the cooling. “There may be many nighttime temperature records,” the NWS said in a warning Thursday. “Without A/C or cooling, the body will not be able to recover, increasing the risk of fever.”
Extreme heat, often called the “silent killer”, is already the deadliest weather-related disaster in the United States, with the death toll rising. As the climate crisis is fueled, it is often exacerbated by the concrete cityscapes cooked as temperatures rise, and the heat waves are getting longer, bigger and more intense.
The heat wave is expected to calm down in California and Southwest on Sunday, but can continue until mid-to-night in the Pacific Northwest.