California wildfire: McKinney Fire spreads rapidly in north of state (2024)

FAQs

What was a reason that the fire near Paradise CA spread so rapidly? ›

It started when a faulty transmission line sparked vegetation that was dry after six years of drought, and it spread far within hours, eventually burning an area larger than Chicago. After the tragedy, some survivors decided to move away.

The McKinney Fire was a destructive wildfire in the Klamath National Forest in western Siskiyou County during the 2022 California wildfire season.

Lightning strikes were behind California's largest fires, which took place in August 2020, burning more than 2 million acres combined — that's about three-quarters of the size of San Diego County.

Convection is the most common cause of fire spreading in domestic and commercial buildings and is also the most dangerous. Heat always rises, but in the setting of an office for example, the heat is trapped once it hits the ceiling and so it then begins to travel horizontally, thus spreading the fire simultaneously.

Climate change, primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is increasing the frequency and severity of wildfires not only in California but also all over the world.

The wildfire victims blame sparks from the high-voltage transmission lines and other equipment, which is part of the PacifiCorp infrastructure. These sparks may have hit the surrounding trees and caused the fire. The possible reason for these sparks is poor equipment maintenance.

U.S. Forest Service

The McKinney Fire has been called 100% contained.

Officials have identified four people killed in the McKinney Fire in California as residents of the same community. Kathleen Shoopman, 73, Charles Kays, 79, Judith Kays, 82, and John Cogan, 76, were all residents of Klamath River, the Siskiyou County Sheriff said in a tweet on Friday.

What part of California does not have wildfires? ›

Anywhere in the central valley, which doesn't have forests (granted there are grass fires but they're not more significant than any other state).

California almost always tops the list of states with the most wildfires, and it's a good example of how some states face greater risk because of their climate. The state's dry climate coupled with regional winds increase its wildfire risk.

The climate in California and other western states has become measurably warmer over the past few decades. This dries out the vegetation and prolongs and intensifies the fire season.

Before it grew to nearly 1m acres and became the first known blaze to crest the Sierra Nevada, the Dixie fire destroyed Greenville in about 30 minutes, wiping away more than a century of history, displacing hundreds of residents and inflaming fears in a region already shaken by years of deadly fires.

The Camp Fire was the deadliest wildfire in the United States since the Cloquet fire in 1918 until it was surpassed by the Lāhainā fire's 101 fatalities in 2023. It is also the fourteenth-deadliest wildfire in the world and the seventh-deadliest wildfire in U.S. history overall.

The Camp fire moved at a rapid clip — roughly 80 football fields per minute — and tens of thousands of embers rained down from one end of the town to the other, an area roughly 5 miles long and 3 miles wide. Some embers were the size of a pie plate. The Camp fire tore through Paradise, Calif.

Three days later, the Camp Fire started, destroying the town of Paradise and nearby communities. The fire resulted in the deaths of 85 people. It was determined the company left a hook hanging for nearly a hundred years until it broke, dropped a power line and sparked the fire.

The location of the fire was near Pulga Road (see ★ on map below), east of the town of Paradise, in Butte County. The fire was started by downed power lines due to high winds. Dry grass and leaves, pine needles, twigs, and other dead brush fueled the fire as it began to grow.

Paradise has a revamped high school, thousands of new homes, recently installed emergency alert sirens and plans for miles of freshly paved roads and underground infrastructure. It's a stark contrast to the Paradise of 2018, when wildfire leveled the affordable suburban community and killed 85 people.