Firefighters battle enormous California wildfire

What happened

A wildfire in Northern California expanded Sunday to cover an area larger than the city of Los Angeles as firefighters battled the blaze. The inferno, dubbed the Park Fire, is the largest in California so far this year and has currently burned more than 353,000 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The fire is one of several blazes currently in the Western U.S. and Canada. 

Who said what

The fire has "so far destroyed 134 structures as it marched northward from Chico and spread from Butte to Tehama County," said NBC News. Following four days without any containment, firefighters "had the blaze 12% contained Sunday." The firefighters are "doing what they can" to fight the inferno, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said on X. The governor further described it as "one of the largest wildfires in California history," noting that there were "aerial assets above" putting "all hands on deck" to extinguish the flames.

What next?

About 2,500 firefighters and 16 helicopters are continuing to fight the wildfire. Some experts believe that "cooler temperatures and an increase in humidity could help slow the Park Fire," said The Associated Press. However, this "doesn't mean that fires that are existing will go away," Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said to the AP.

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