Barely a week after the comparatively minor Apache Fire scorched much of the same area, the Thompson Fire has already spread to both sides of the Feather River, immediately west of Lake Oroville. The affected zone, near where the Sierra Nevada foothills meet the Central Valley, also contains the picturesque Table Mountain, a picturesque basalt mesa south of Chico that’s a year-round hotspot for wildflowers and wildlife-viewing.