California park fire spreads to 178,000 acres; Chico man arrested

About 4,400 residents, including the communities of Cohasset and Forest Ranch and areas of northeast Chico, were evacuated, authorities said. Two minor injuries were reported. In an update Friday morning, Cal Fire said 134 structures had been destroyed and more than 4,000 structures remained threatened.

A wildfire warning for dry, windy weather is in effect until 11 p.m. Friday for parts of the Sacramento Valley and surrounding foothills where the fire is located – conditions that could worsen throughout the day.

The fire started Wednesday afternoon and “exploded from a 400-acre fire to a more than 71,000-acre inferno that consumed everything in its path” overnight into Thursday, Cal Fire saidBy late Thursday, more than 145,000 acres of fire burned in Butte and Tehama counties and had spawned several fire tornadoes.

The small mountain community of Cohasset lies entirely within the fire zone, Zeke Lunder, a geographer who maps and reports on wildfires through the website The Lookout, said in a briefing Friday. But that doesn’t mean all buildings in the community are affected.

He said strong southwest winds today could push the fire across a highway on the northeast side of the fire toward the town of Butte Meadows.

Further south, firefighters have been able to keep the highway blaze under control so far, which he called a “huge success” for communities like Forest Ranch, Paradise and Magalia. Still, those places are not out of the woods yet.

Winds of 10 to 20 miles per hour and gusts of up to 30 miles per hour are expected for Friday, but these are expected to ease overnight into Friday, followed by a cooling trend over the weekend.

In a briefing Thursday afternoon, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said the Park Fire was “really the first fire in recent years in California whose behavior I would describe as ‘exceptional,’ and that’s not a good thing.”

Winds contributed to the extreme behavior and spread of the fire.

“The heat (of the fire) drives the embers high into the atmosphere and they are carried long distances by the wind. … So that way it can spread pretty quickly,” said Craig Clements, a professor of meteorology and climate science at San Jose State University.

But the real reason for the explosive spread of the fire is the extremely dry vegetation caused by weeks of extreme heat, which has led to a dramatic extension of the fire season in much of the West.

According to authorities, the fire was started when a man pushed a burning car into a ravine.

Butte County District Attorney Michael L. Ramsey said Ronnie Stout, 42, of Chico, will be arson-charged Monday, which has yet to be resolved. Investigators say a witness saw him push a burning car off an embankment in upper Bidwell Park.

“She saw him get in the vehicle, do something in it, get out of the vehicle and then push the burning vehicle down the embankment,” Ramsey told reporters. “That’s why we’re here today.” He said the vehicle was Stout’s mother’s car.

Stout was arrested early Thursday on a warrant without bail, Ramsey said.

Butte County has been repeatedly hit by deadly and destructive wildfires. The Camp Fire destroyed nearly the entire town of Paradise in 2018 and killed 85 people. On Friday, Paradise residents were on edge after authorities told them to prepare for the possibility that they would have to evacuate if the Park Fire’s flames spread.

The Park Fire has been compared to the Camp Fire, although that fire was sparked by an extreme fall storm in 2018. This fire is spreading with fairly typical summer winds found in California’s Central Valley, Clements said.

In 2021, the Dixie Fire, sparked by PG&E power lines, devastated the city of Greenville, California, and burned nearly 1 million acres, the second-largest fire in the state’s history. Earlier this month, the Thompson Fire near Oroville destroyed or damaged dozens of structures and burned more than 3,700 acres before firefighters could contain it.

So far this year, 4,367 fires have broken out in California, burning at least 147,000 acres of land. These fires had a variety of causes, including lightning strikes and arson. Scientists say climate change is a driving force that is making wildfires more explosive in California and around the world.