Park fire in Northern California continues to spread rapidly; arsonist arrested: “We are in shock”

The Park Fire, one of many wildfires raging in Northern California, has grown from a small brush fire in Chico to the state’s largest in less than two days. A man suspected of starting the blaze has been arrested.

The Park Fire started in a park Wednesday afternoon and spread from about 6,400 acres late Wednesday night to 45,550 acres by Thursday morning. By Friday evening, it had quintupled to a staggering 239,100 acres — about 373 square miles. Containment was at 3% but fell to zero percent.

“The fingers of this fire are spreading in different directions depending on which way the wind is blowing,” said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

Cal Fire Chief of Operations Billy See said in a news conference Friday afternoon that the fire was spreading at a rate of 4,000 to 5,000 acres per hour. according to CBS Sacramento.

According to CBS Sacramento, Honea said Friday afternoon that evacuation orders are in place for about 4,000 Butte County residents and that evacuation orders have also been issued in three California counties, Tehama, Shasta and Plumas.

Jerry Himango, who lost his home in the Camp Fire that devastated the city in 2018 paradisestayed at his home in Chico as the Park Fire raged through his neighborhood. He said his house was set back 200 feet from thick vegetation to keep the fires at bay.

“It was just … like a freight train coming through,” Himango told CBS News Sacramento. “Within an hour, an hour and a half, it came from the bottom of the canyon right through this area here and just kept chugging up the hill.”

Cal Fire investigators arrested a 42-year-old Chico man suspected of setting the fire, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey announced. Officials later identified the suspect as Ronnie Dean Stout II.

His arrest followed reports of a man pushing a burning car into a ravine in the upper part of Bidwell Park, where the fire started, around 3 p.m. Wednesday, the district attorney said. The car slid 65 feet down an embankment and burst into flames, sparking the park fire.

Ramsey said the man then quietly fled the area along with other residents who fled as the fire spread rapidly. A local judge issued an arrest warrant Thursday morning and Stout was booked into the Butte County Jail, where he would be held without bail until his arraignment on Monday, according to the warrant.

Authorities in Butte County and neighboring Tehama County issued numerous evacuation orders and warnings as the Park Fire developed. CBS News Sacramento reportedEmergency shelters have been set up for people and animals affected by the fire, and California

California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Butte and Tehama counties and Plumas County in Northern California on Friday evening due to the Fires in the Gold Complexin which just over 3,000 acres of land were burned.

The Gold Complex fires were four lightning-sparked fires that broke out near the community of Portola in the Plumas National Forest and required evacuations. Some of these fires merged into the Mill and Smith fires. Together, they were 11% contained as of the last report Friday.

Officials said Friday morning that 134 buildings had been destroyed by the park fire. CBS Sacramento captured footage of several destroyed homes.

Julia Yarbough saw her house burning on her home’s security camera.

“We’re in shock right now,” she told CBS News’ Jonathan Vigliotti, who accompanied her on her first return. “It’s really surreal.” Yarbough is a former news anchor at Action News Now, a CBS affiliate station in Chico. She was also an anchor and reporter at KCBS in Los Angeles.

Newsom announced Thursday that the state had received a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support California’s response to the fast-spreading fire. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed the grant approval.

Cal Fire said more than 1,600 firefighters, supported by six firefighting helicopters, fought the blaze.

Even after the arsonist’s arrest on Thursday, the investigation into the park fire and its cause is still ongoing, Ramsey said.

The Park Fire is currently the largest, but by far not the only, forest fire in California. And further north, in Oregon, the The Durkee Fire became so large and powerful that it created its own weather.

The recent wildfires in Butte County

As CBS News Sacramento points out, Butte County had a very eventful fire season this summer.

The Thompson Fire In the Oroville area, more than 3,700 acres of land were recently burned, tens of thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes, and dozens of structures, including houses, were destroyed.

The day after the Thompson Fire broke out the Grubbs fire The town of Palermo, located south of it, was much smaller, but also had to be evacuated.

In mid-July, the Railbridge Fire devastated 53 hectares of land south of Palermo, requiring evacuations, destroying or damaging several buildings, and injuring at least one person.

Already in June Apache firewhich burned in the same area near Oroville and Palermo, scorching nearly 280 acres of land and forcing its own wave of evacuations.

Almost two weeks before the Apache fire June fire In Palermo, almost 450 hectares of land burned down and people had to leave their homes.

In 2018, the Camp Fire charred more than 150,000 acres in Butte County and nearly destroyed the town of Paradise. 85 people died in the Camp Fire, making it the deadliest in the history of the state.