Northern California Wildfire Slows, Allowing Most Residents to Return Home

The fire in Oroville forced 29,000 people to evacuate their homes earlier this week, but on Thursday officials said they felt “more confident” about containing the fire’s spread.

A destructive wildfire that engulfed buildings and forced 29,000 people to evacuate the area near Oroville in Butte County, Calif., slowed enough on Thursday that most residents were allowed to return to their homes, officials said.

Fire crews battled flames overnight, and on Thursday morning, the spread of the blaze, named the Thompson fire, remained relatively stable, at around 3,700 acres burned. The fierce winds that initially drove the fire weakened through the night.

On Thursday afternoon, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office lifted evacuation orders and warnings for more than 20 zones, and downgraded evacuation orders to warnings for roughly another 20, allowing more than 26,000 residents who had been displaced by the fire to return. About 2,780 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders.

So far, four firefighters have been injured and four structures destroyed as a result of the blaze, according to Cal Fire’s incident report. The fire has also consumed vehicles, based on news coverage.

“Overall, things are looking pretty good,” said Kevin Colburn, a spokesman for Cal Fire. “The fire is not doing what it was doing on the first day. It’s not burning with a rapid rate of spread. It’s pretty much staying in the footprint that it’s in.”

Mr. Colburn added that while officials were feeling “more confident” about the slowing spread of the fire and the ability of firefighters to contain it, there was still a lot of work to do, and the situation could change. As of Thursday morning, the fire was 7 percent contained.