California's Park Fire, one of state's largest ever, grows amid "near record levels of dryness"
Authorities say a burning car that was pushed into a Northern California gully a week ago sparked what's now the fifth-largest wildfire in the state's history.
Cal Fire reported the Park Fire had grown to more than 393,800 acres by Wednesday afternoon and was at 22% containment. That size — about 615 square miles — is almost half the size of Rhode Island, more than 12 times bigger than San Francisco and larger than the city of Los Angeles.
According to Cal Fire, the Park Fire now ranks between the SCU Lightning Complex Fire of 2020 that burned 396,625 acres and the Creek Fire that same year, which burned 379,895 acres. The August Complex Fire, also in 2020, remains the largest in state history with more than 1 million acres burned.
Four counties — Butte, Plumas, Shasta and Tehama — have been affected by the ongoing Park Fire, with the latter seeing the most burned acreage. So far, 361 structures have been confirmed to be destroyed, officials said, most of which are in Butte County.
After days of what Cal Fire described as "rapid growth," when it exploded to cover tens and then hundreds of thousands of acres, Sunday brought cooler temperatures that helped reduce some of the fire's extreme behavior and allowed responders to "actively combat the fire outside of the National Forest lands." However, there was also less smoke on Sunday, causing a "warmer climate around the fire which has led to increased fire activity," officials said.
Cal Fire said in its update on Tuesday night that the day's winds were calm and that the smoke from the fire had reduced fire activity at the blaze's edge near the Lassen National Forest. The fire was expected to remain active throughout the night as firefighters prepare for a change in weather that could provide fuel to the flames.
"The weather is expected to become much warmer and drier later this week, with some winds and potential for thunderstorms it is advised to be cautious during this time," Cal Fire said. "Fire crews are providing structure defense where needed, they are attempting to complete containment lines in some areas and gain a stronghold in the challenging topography while also engaging in mop-up where applicable."
On Wednesday, Cal Fire said that the Park Fire "continues to burn very actively at multiple locations around the perimeter. Temperatures are climbing and there is "near record levels of dryness," Cal Fire said, two factors that are major drivers of wildfire activity.
The blaze has sparked fire tornadoes and reached Lassen Volcanic National Park, which is now closed. The park said on Facebook on Saturday that the fire was approaching its western edge "three years after the Dixie Fire consumed much of the eastern portion."
"Staff are scrambling to save historic artifacts stored in the 1927 Loomis Museum," the park said.
The man accused of starting the inferno, Ronnie Dean Stout II, 42, made his first court appearance on Monday and is being charged with reckless arson along with several enhancements, CBS Sacramento reports. He didn't enter a plea. No bail was set and the arraignment was scheduled to continue Thursday.
Court records show Stout has two prior felony convictions: one from 2001 and one from 2002. He was released from prison in October 2018. Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said this would be Stout's third strike if it's found the Park Fire caused serious bodily injury or death.
"For reckless arson, the upper term is four years. With his prior strikes, you can double that. Not make it 25 to life, but you can double that," Ramsey said.
He said Stout's blood alcohol content was above the legal limit when he was arrested Thursday, adding that "involuntary intoxication is not a defense for arson."
Christopher Apel and his brother-in-law Bruce Hey told CBS Sacramento that their family has lived in the Cohasset area for decades and that they had people staying on their adjacent properties who had survived the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 84 people in the same region where the Park Fire is burning.
"Everything is burning," Apel said.
"I tried to outrun it," Hey added, saying he burned his left arm while evacuating.
"I wouldn't have gotten burned if I hadn't rolled down the window to look in the rearview mirror," he said. "I was right in the middle of it and I was trying to put it in reverse."
Julie Yarbough, a former news anchor and reporter for CBS Los Angeles, watched her home burn down in real-time through a video feed of her home security camera.
"Our house is gone, their house is OK," she says of the aftermath in her neighborhood. "The house next to it you can see it's gone."
She said she doesn't think the full blow of the loss has sunk in yet.
"It really is almost a numbness," she told CBS Sacramento. "It's surreal."
The Park Fire comes amid a disastrous wildfire season for the state, with Cal Fire saying that from Jan. 1 to July 30, blazes have burned 751,327 acres across California — 29 times higher than the amount of land burned last year. So far, wildfire activity is 2,816% higher than the same period in 2023, the department added.
And it's not just happening in California. There are several blazes across North America
wreaking havoc on communities. In Colorado, the Alexander Mountain Fire spawned mandatory evacuations after it quickly grew to over 5,000 acres in Larimer County, while a separate fire in the state called the Stone Canyon Fire destroyed at least two homes as it grew to more than 1,300 acres. And in Canada, the worst wildfire at Jasper National Park in 100 years has destroyed a third of its neighboring town of Jasper, with several firefighters, including the chief, losing their homes in the blaze.