Park Fire

Park Fire Part of the 2024 California wildfires
Smoke plume of the fire in Butte County as seen from the CARD Wildwood Park in Chico on the afternoon of July 25, 2024
Date(s)	July 24, 2024 (2024-07-24) – present (16 days)
Location	Butte and Tehama counties, California
Coordinates	39°46′44″N 121°45′42″W / 39.7789°N 121.76168°W / 39.7789; -121.76168
Statistics
Perimeter	34 percent contained
Burned area	428,808 acres (173,532 ha; 670 sq mi; 1,735 km2)
Impacts
Deaths	0
Non-fatal injuries	3
Evacuated	>4,000 people
Structures destroyed	640 (52 damaged)
Damage	$133.7 million (cost of fire suppression)
Ignition
Cause	Arson
Map
The footprint of the Park Fire in Butte and Tehama counties as of August 8
The general location of the Park Fire in Northern California

The Park Fire is an active wildfire burning in Butte and Tehama counties in Northern California.^[1] The fire ignited on July 24, allegedly due to arson, in Upper Bidwell Park adjacent to the city of Chico in Butte County. The fire defied initial suppression efforts and grew rapidly over the following days, burning into the Lassen foothills and Ishi Wilderness. Thousands of people in multiple foothill communities have been forced to evacuate, Lassen Volcanic National Park has closed to the public, and at least 640 buildings have burned in the fire. No deaths have occurred so far.

The Park Fire is the largest wildfire of California's 2024 wildfire season, the fourth largest in California history, the second largest single-source wildfire (as compared to a wildfire complex, with multiple ignition points), and the largest ever caused by arson in the state. As of August 9, 2024^[update], the fire has burned 428,808 acres (173,532 hectares) and is 34 percent contained.^[2] Fire suppression operations have cost $133.7 million to date.^[3]

The brisk expansion of the Park Fire in late July was driven in large part by antecedent hot and dry conditions.^[4][5][6] July of 2024 was California's hottest month ever recorded, stoked by a heatwave almost two weeks in duration and focused on the interior of the state.^[6] Areas in the vicinity of the fire endured temperatures of 100–110 °F (38–43 °C) during the week before it began.^[7] Evaporative demand—a measure of the atmosphere's capability to draw water out of vegetation and other sources of moisture—increased across much of the state and particularly so in the Central Valley, indicating a concurrent increase in fire danger.^[8] California had already endured an active beginning to the 2024 fire season: by July 23, the day before the Park Fire ignited, approximately 287,000 acres (116,000 ha) had burned across the state. This was more than twice the year-to-date average.^[8]

Butte County, where the Park Fire began, has witnessed several of the state's largest, deadliest, and most destructive wildfires. The Camp Fire in 2018, the North Complex Fire in 2020, and the Dixie Fire in 2021 all burned at least partially within Butte County.^[5] The topography of the county ranges from the flat Central Valley in the west to the forested Sierra Nevada in the east, with grasslands, oak woodlands, and chaparral landscapes in between. Hot and dry summer weather, fire-receptive vegetation, and large roadless areas help enable wildfires in the region to become large. Approximately 40 percent of Butte County, and 41 percent of Tehama County, have burned in wildfires since 2000.^[9]

The Park Fire began near Upper Park Road in upper Bidwell Park, inside the city limits of Chico in Butte County.^[2] Bidwell Park is a large municipal park and recreational area that stretches from Chico itself into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.^[10][11]

Authorities believe the fire's ignition to have been an intentional act. Shortly before 3:00 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, July 24, Chico resident Ronnie Dean Stout II, driving his mother's 2007 Toyota Yaris, pulled it over to the side of a road in the Upper Park and went over a berm. The car became stuck in grass and Stout revved the engine to try and free it, setting the grass beneath the vehicle afire and then the car itself. Stout—according to the district attorney for Butte County—claims that here he panicked and left the car without moving it. Eyewitness accounts assert that Stout instead put it in neutral and then pushed the burning vehicle backwards off the embankment, whereupon it fell approximately 60 feet (18 m) and landed in a ravine. The car continued to burn, and the flames spread to nearby vegetation. Witnesses claim Stout joined the crowd fleeing the growing fire.^[12][13]

California Highway Patrol investigators examined the car later and found it in neutral.^[14] Stout was arrested at 1:30 a.m. the next day, ten and a half hours after the fire's ignition.^[13] The Park Fire is the largest arson-caused wildfire in California history.^[15]

The Park Fire ignited at 2:52 p.m. PDT on July 24 on Bidwell Park's eastern edge.^[16][17] It was first spotted near Upper Park Road.^[16] The first firefighting personnel on scene reported a fire of four to five acres (1.6 to 2.0 ha).^[18] From its ignition point the fire spread north, burning some of the park's eastern portion, driven by winds out of the south of up to 24 miles per hour (39 km/h).^[16][19] The area burned was reported by Cal Fire to be 1,000 acres (400 ha) by 5:54 p.m.^[19] Evacuations in areas northeast of Chico began by 9:00 p.m.^[20]

Residents of Cohasset, a community of several hundred people northeast of Chico in Butte County that is usually accessible only by Cohasset Road, found themselves unable to leave when flames overran the way. One convoy of 100–150 people eventually made their way out to California State Route 32 via logging roads when Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI), which owns much of the land surrounding the town, unlocked gates on their property. Many people still remained in Cohasset, however, and at 9:00 p.m. Cal Fire directed that two National Guard helicopters fly to Cohasset for possible evacuations.^[21] At 9:10 p.m. a second group of 80-100 people, led by SPI employees, made their way via more logging roads north to California State Route 36 from upper Cohasset Road.^[21][22]

The burned area increased to 6,465 acres (2,616 ha) by 10:15 p.m.^[19]

As it spread north, the fire established itself in the Ishi Wilderness, an area with little history of wildfire, heavy vegetation cover, and few easy access routes for ground-based firefighting personnel.^[16] The fire produced pyrocumulus clouds and burned actively into the night.^[17] Despite the efforts of ground crews and three night-flying helicopters, the wind-driven fire continued to burn largely north—parallel to California State Route 99—until by morning it had burned into Tehama County and consumed more than 45,000 acres (18,000 ha).^[20][23] During the fire's first 12 hours, it burned at a rate of 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) per hour.^[7] The fire also generated a fire whirl.^[24]

The fire surpassed 300,000 acres (120,000 ha) in burned area by the morning of Saturday, July 27, less than 72 hours after ignition.^[15]

As of August 9, 2024^[update], the fire had burned 428,808 acres (173,532 ha) and was 34 percent contained,^[2] making the Park Fire the largest wildfire in California in 2024 and the fourth largest in California history.^[11][25][26] The fire has burned more than 52,000 acres (21,000 ha) in Butte County and more than 353,000 acres (143,000 ha) in Tehama County.^[2]

Thousands of firefighters battled to contain the fire as of 29 July 2024.^[27] Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, deployed resources to assist in California wildfire response.^[28]

There have been no reported deaths in association with the Park Fire.^[29] At least three firefighters sustained heat-related injuries.^[30]

The fire has destroyed 640 structures and damaged 52 others.^[2] The fire burned the majority of the Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve, a ~7,800-acre (3,200 ha) property owned and used for educational purposes by Chico State University. Multiple buildings there were destroyed, including a historic barn and university offices.^[31] An unknown number of structures burned in the community of Cohasset, which took a "direct hit" from the fire.^[21][32] The fire is threatening a further 10,800 structures.^[33] California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for areas affected in Butte and Tehama counties.^[34] Shasta County declared a local state of emergency on July 31, 2024.^[35]

The fire has prompted evacuation orders for parts of Butte, Shasta and Tehama counties,^[36] including residential areas near Chico and the city's airport.^[17] By the morning of Thursday, July 25, more than 4,000 people were subject to evacuation orders, including the entire community of Cohasset.^[7][20] Included in the evacuation orders were specific areas to evacuate and shelter large and small animals. The Tehama County Sheriff's Office provided short escorts into specific evacuation zones for owners to evacuate or care for animals that may have been left behind.^[37] The North Valley Animal Disaster Group hosted many evacuated pets and large animals for those evacuated due to the fire.^[38] On July 28, Shingletown was evacuated on the north side of the fire.^[39] On July 30, two women were arrested for re-entering Cohasset while it remained under a mandatory evacuation order and a man was separately arrested for entering an evacuation zone in Shingletown.^[40][41]

On July 27, Lassen Volcanic National Park closed to the public and evacuated all employees from park housing, citing fears that the Park Fire could encroach upon the national park's western side, including Manzanita Lake and park headquarters in the community of Mineral.^[42]

Drifting smoke from the Park Fire caused officials in Reno, Nevada to issue an air quality emergency on July 30 when air quality indices reached unhealthy levels.^[43]

Environmental scientists and officials fear that the Park Fire will negatively impact endangered populations of spring-run Chinook salmon in Tehama County's Mill Creek and Deer Creek watersheds. Firefighting operations may introduce fire retardant—toxic to fish—into waterways, and post-fire rains may wash sediment and debris into the water, causing algal blooms, suffocating fish, or blocking parts of the river. Such an event occurred in 2022 in the Klamath River after flash floods in the McKinney Fire burn scar.^[44]

The Butte County District Attorney's office announced the arrest of Ronnie Dean Stout II (born January 10, 1982), a 42-year-old resident of Chico on July 25, the second day of the fire. Stout was held under suspicion of having ignited the Park Fire by pushing a flaming 2007 Toyota Yaris—belonging to his mother^[45]—off an embankment in Bidwell Park.^[46] The district attorney's office alleged that the suspect blended in with other members of the public who were hastening away from the growing fire.^[47]

Stout is being currently held in Butte County jail without any possibility of bail.^[48] He was arraigned on July 29 in Butte County Superior Court in Oroville, and charged with reckless arson with multiple enhancements.^[13][14] Stout did not enter a plea during that court appearance. The court ordered that he be held without bail, appointed a public defender and an additional arraignment was calendared for August 1, 2024.^[49] The court found that Stout has two prior felony convictions, a 2001 child molestation conviction in Butte County and a 2002 robbery conviction in Kern County.^[46] After the latter, Stout remained in prison for 19 years. At the time of his arrest in connection of the Park Fire, Stout was on probation for a previous DUI charge.^[50]

• 2024 California wildfires
• Jasper wildfire
• List of California wildfires

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Park Fire.

• Park Fire Information | InciWeb
• Fire Map | NAPSG Foundation
• Incident map and information | Watch Duty

This page was last edited on 9 August 2024, at 20:14