Wildfires are exploding across the West, especially in California, where the Park Fire has grown to be the biggest in the state this year.
The largest of several wildfires in the state is the Park Fire, burning in Butte, Tehama, Shasta and Plumas counties, north of Chico. As of Sunday night, the fire had grown to 360,141 acres acres and was 12% contained.
At least 134 structures, including homes, have been destroyed by the blaze, now the seventh largest fire recorded in California history in only a few days.
"You know, we felt it and all the people through here," Chico-area rancher John Russell told ABC News on Saturday as he looked out at the burnt landscape surrounding the 200-acre property, pointing to the fire line that firefighters cut with a bulldozer to save his barn and cattle.
He said he is still assessing the damage to his property and expressed surprise at the speed of the blaze, which authorities suspect was deliberately set on Wednesday afternoon. But having witnessed the 2018 Camp Fire that completely leveled the Butte County town of Paradise, Russell said he was not surprised by the devastation of the Park Fire.
"When you say, did you think it would ever happen, you better believe it," Russell said. "Anything can happen in this country at any time."
Paradise resident Jen Robbins said she lost everything in the Camp Fire and isn't sure if the new home she built in Paradise is still standing. She said she has PTSD from the 2018 blaze.
"The skies were looking kind of clearer above our side of town, but then things changed really quickly and the whole town, everything was black. And so we decided it was time to go," Robbins told ABC News of how rapidly the fire spread in her community, causing her to evacuate.
The rapid spread of the fire is being fueled by an abundance of vegetation and one of the hottest and driest summers on record in the area, officials said.
Temperatures in the area, which have been in the triple digits, have cooled slightly, with the high temperature in the Chico area forecast to hit 92 degrees on Sunday and 94 on Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Winds have also died down in the area.