Butte County is a county located in the northern central part of the U.S. state of California. In the 2020 census, its population was 211,632. The county seat is Oroville.
Concow is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Sierra Nevada foothills covering eastern Butte County, California. Due to a decline in employment and repeated wildfires, over the past hundred years the population declined from several thousand to several dozen. On November 8, 2018, a wildfire, the Camp Fire, destroyed most of Concow, as well as the adjacent municipality of Paradise.
Gridley is a city in Butte County, California, United States, 29 miles south of Chico, California, and 56 miles north of Sacramento, California. The population as of April 1, 2020, is 7,421. California State Route 99 runs through Gridley and Interstate 5 and California State Route 70 are both nearby.
Oroville is the county seat of Butte County, California, United States. Its population was 15,506 at the 2010 census, up from 13,004 in the 2000 census. After the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed much of the town of Paradise, Oroville's population increased as many people who lost their homes moved there. The 2020 census recorded Oroville's population as 20,042.
Paradise is a town in Butte County, California, United States, in the Sierra Nevada foothills above the northeastern Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 4,764, a decline of over 80% from the 26,218 residents recorded in the 2010 census.
Ishi was the last known member of the Native American Yahi people from the present-day state of California in the United States. The rest of the Yahi were killed in the California genocide in the 19th century. Widely described as the "last wild Indian" in the U.S., Ishi lived most of his life isolated from modern North American culture, and was the last known Native manufacturer of stone arrowheads. In 1911, aged 50, he emerged at a barn and corral, 2 mi (3.2 km) from downtown Oroville, California.
The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about 73 miles (117 km) long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over 210 miles (340 km). The main stem Feather River begins in Lake Oroville, where its four long tributary forks join—the South Fork, Middle Fork, North Fork, and West Branch Feather Rivers. These and other tributaries drain part of the northern Sierra Nevada, and the extreme southern Cascades, as well as a small portion of the Sacramento Valley. The total drainage basin is about 6,200 square miles (16,000 km2), with approximately 3,604 square miles (9,330 km2) above Lake Oroville.
State Route 70 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting SR 99 north of Sacramento with U.S. Route 395 near Beckwourth Pass via the Feather River Canyon. Through the Feather River Canyon, from SR 149 to US 395, SR 70 is the Feather River Scenic Byway, a Forest Service Byway that parallels the ex-Western Pacific Railroad's Feather River Route.
State Route 149 is a short state highway in the U.S. state of California that helps to connect Oroville and Chico through rural Butte County. Connecting State Route 70 at Wicks Corner with State Route 99 east of Durham, it forms part of the primary north–south highway through the eastern Sacramento Valley, a Focus Route of the Interregional Road System.
Hamilton is a former settlement in Butte County, California, United States, and was its first permanent county seat. It was located on the west side of the Feather River, 15 miles (24 km) downstream from Oroville.
The North Fork Feather River is a watercourse of the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades in the U.S. state of California. It flows generally southwards from its headwaters near Lassen Peak to Lake Oroville, a reservoir formed by Oroville Dam in the foothills of the Sierra, where it runs into the Feather River. The river drains about 2,100 square miles (5,400 km2) of the western slope of the Sierras. By discharge, it is the largest tributary of the Feather.
Adventist Health Feather River, also known as Feather River Hospital, was a 101-bed acute care hospital located in the town of Paradise, in Butte County, California, with a wide array of outpatient departments and services designed to meet the health care needs of Paradise, Magalia, and neighboring communities. It was severely damaged in the November 2018 Camp Fire and is currently closed.
In February 2017, heavy rainfall damaged Oroville Dam's main and emergency spillways, prompting the evacuation of more than 180,000 people living downstream along the Feather River and the relocation of a fish hatchery.
On November 13–14, 2017, a series of shootings occurred in Rancho Tehama, an unincorporated community in Tehama County, California, U.S. The gunman, 44-year-old Kevin Janson Neal, died by suicide after a Corning police officer rammed and stopped his stolen vehicle. During the shooting spree, five people were killed and eighteen others were injured at eight separate crime scenes, including an elementary school. Ten people suffered bullet wounds and eight were cut by flying glass caused by the gunfire. The injured victims were transported to several area clinics and hospitals.
The 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California's Butte County was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history. The fire began on the morning of Thursday, November 8, 2018, when part of a poorly maintained Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) transmission line in the Feather River Canyon failed during strong katabatic winds. Those winds rapidly drove the Camp Fire through the communities of Concow, Magalia, Butte Creek Canyon, and Paradise, largely destroying them. The fire burned for another two weeks, and was contained on Sunday, November 25, after burning 153,336 acres (62,050 ha). The Camp Fire caused 85 fatalities, displaced more than 50,000 people, and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, causing an estimated $16.5 billion in damage. It was the most expensive natural disaster of 2018, and is a notable case of a utility-caused wildfire.
On November 14, 2019, at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, United States, a school shooting occurred when a student with a pistol, identified as 16-year-old Nathaniel Berhow, shot five schoolmates, killing two, before killing himself.
Oroville is a former train station in Oroville, California. The building was constructed in 1910 as the town's stop along the Western Pacific Railroad Feather River Route. The railroad discontinued their passenger trains in 1970, leaving Oroville without rail services. The Chico Electric Railway had built an electric interurban railway line to the town with a route down High Street and its own depot two blocks west of the Western Pacific's.
The North Complex Fire was a massive wildfire complex that burned in the Plumas National Forest in Northern California in the counties of Plumas and Butte. Twenty-one fires were started by lightning on August 17, 2020; by September 5, all the individual fires had been put out with the exception of the Claremont and Bear Fires, which merged on that date, and the Sheep Fire, which was then designated a separate incident. On September 8, strong winds caused the Bear/Claremont Fire to explode in size, rapidly spreading to the southwest. On September 8, 2020, the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls were immediately evacuated at 3:15 p.m. PDT with no prior warning. By September 9, 2020, the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls had been leveled, with few homes left standing. The fire threatened the city of Oroville, before its westward spread was stopped. The fire killed 16 people and injured more than 100. The complex burned an estimated 318,935 acres (129,068 ha), and was 100% contained on December 3. The fire was managed by the U.S. Forest Service in conjunction with Cal Fire, with the primary incident base in Quincy. The North Complex Fire is the eighth-largest in California's history, and was the deadliest fire in the 2020 California wildfire season.
The Superior Court of California, County of Butte, also known as the Butte County Superior Court, is the California superior court with jurisdiction over Butte County.
Ryan Scott Blinston is an American spree killer and arsonist who murdered three women in Oroville, California, between May and June 2020. His modus operandi typically consisted of murdering clients he worked for at his tree-trimming job. Blinston was caught by a SWAT team while attempting to murder another man with a hatchet. He was later found guilty of the murders and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
