Wall Fire (Wildfire)
| Wall Fire | |
|---|---|
| Location |
Bangor, Butte County, California |
| Coordinates | 39°27′13″N 121°24′44″W / 39.45352°N 121.41222°WCoordinates: 39°27′13″N 121°24′44″W / 39.45352°N 121.41222°W |
| Statistics[1] | |
| Date(s) | July 7, 2017 - |
| Burned area | 6,033 acres (2,441 ha) |
| Cause | Under investigation |
| Buildings destroyed | 101 (41 homes, 60 other) |
| Injuries | 4 (3 civilians, 1 firefighter) |
| Map | |
  Location in California | |
The Wall fire is a wildfire currently burning near Bangor in Eastern Butte County, in Northern California. The fire was initially named the Wall incident due to it starting near Chinese Wall Road. The Wall fire thus far has destroyed 41 residences, damaged a further 3, and destroyed or damaged 57 other structures. As for size, the Wall Fire has consumed over 6,033 acres (2,441 ha) and is currently (July 13, 5pm PDT) 85 percent contained.[1]
Events
The fire broke out near Chinese Wall Road, five miles north of Bangor at 2:50 p.m. on Friday, July 7, and immediately became a threat to surrounding structures in the valley. [2][1] Within a half hour of burning, the fire was a reported 50 acres in size but within three hours had ballooned to 500 acres (200 ha).[3] An immediate evacuation order was put into effect for Hurleton Swedes Flat Road from Grand Oak to Swedes Flat as well as all connecting roads.[4] An evacuation center was set up at the Church of the Nazarene in South Oroville.
By Saturday, July 8, the fire was a reported 2,000 acres in size with an estimated 10 homes destroyed and a mere 2% containment. A reported five people had already been injured as a result of the fire, four of which were civilians.[5] Over the course of the day, the fire reportedly doubled in size to over 4,400 acres as nearly 1,000 fire personnel were on scene fighting the fire.[6] More structures were seen burning in the area although there were unknown estimate as to how many were homes.[6]
On Sunday morning, July 9, evacuation orders were extended to include Oro Bangor Highway from Swedes Flat Road to Avocado Road, including all connection roads and areas, leaving 750 structures threatened by the fire. However, containment was up by 17 percent.[6] By mid afternoon, that day, the fire was 5,000 acres in size with 17 percent of the fire contained.[6]
The fire had grown to 5,800 acres on the evening of July 10 as over 5,400 structures were still threatened, however over 1,700 firecrews had contained 40 percent of the incident.[7]
Effects
At the height of the fire, evacuation orders were put into effect for more than 4,000 residents and an additional 7,400 people were put under an evacuation advisory, according to officials. Gov. Jerry Brown issued a state of emergency for the Butte County area on Sunday, July 9.[8]
References
- 1 2 3 "Wall Fire". Incident Information. Cal Fire. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
- ↑ "Wall, Bangor in Butte County". YubaNet. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ↑ "Fast-Moving Wall Fire Grows To 1,000 Acres Near Bangor In Butte County". CBS Sacramento. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ↑ Locke, Cathy. "Butte County wildfire prompts evacuations near Bangor". The Sacrament Bee. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
- ↑ Oide, Thomas; Sorci, Anthony. "Wall Fire grows to 2,000 acres, evacuations still in effect". The Sacrament Bee. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
- 1 2 3 4 "Wall Fire Burns 5,600 Acres; State Of Local Emergency Declared For Butte County". KXJZ. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
- ↑ "Containment Grows As Crews Continue To Battle Wall Fire". KXJZ. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ↑ Garrison, Ellen; Yoon-Hendricks, Alexandra. "State of emergency issued in Butte County as Wall fire forces thousands to evacuate". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
