A wildfire in the US state of California has quickly become the biggest fire of the year so far. The McKinney fire, near the Oregon border, started Friday and grew to more than 20,000 acres in 48 hours.
At least 2,000 people have been evacuated. Governor Gavin Newsom has declared an emergency for the area.
The evacuations also included at least 60 hikers hiking the remote Pacific Coast Trail in the area. That route runs from the southern border with Mexico through California, Oregon and Washington to the border with Canada.
According to the authorities, the hikers were not in immediate danger, but because of the unpredictability of the fire, they were picked up by emergency services as a precaution.
There are so-called ‘red flag’ weather conditions in the area. They make fighting the fire difficult. This mainly concerns heat, drought and strong winds. This allows the fire to spread easily.
In recent weeks, the Oak Fire near Yosemite National Park was the biggest fire of the year. That fire is now 19,000 hectares and “65 percent under control”. Dozens of houses have been destroyed by the fire. There were no injuries.
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