REDDING, Calif. − A Northern California man charged with arson in one of the largest fires in state history denied claims he pushed a burning car down an embankment and ignited the blaze that has forced evacuation of more than 25,000 people in four counties.
Ronnie Dean Stout II, charged Monday with reckless arson and related charges, was being held pending completion of his arraignment Thursday. The Park Fire continued to expand, and Tuesday had burned 600 square miles in Tehama and Butte counties, making it the fifth-largest fire in California history. It was only 14% contained as of the last update Tuesday at 4:17 p.m. Pacific Time by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection − Cal Fire.
The fire ignited last Wednesday in Upper Bidwell Park, a 3,600-acre municipal park in Chico in Butte County, although the blaze has mostly burned in Tehama County. Additional evacuations in nearby Shasta County were ordered Tuesday.
"This didn't have to happen," Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said at a briefing. He said Stout pulled over to the side of the road but went over a berm and into grass. Ramsey said the fire started when Stout revved his car's engine trying to drive out.
Witnesses said they saw Stout watch his car burn, then push it backward. Ramsey said Stout claims he didn't push the car down the embankment but panicked and left the scene.
"The car went down an embankment approximately 60 feet and burned completely, spreading flames that caused the Park Fire," Ramsey said in statement. The suspect, he said, was "seen calmly leaving the area by blending in with the other citizens who were in the area and fleeing the rapidly evolving fire."
Ramsey's office has said Stout has two previous serious felonies on his record, which would make him subject to at least a 25-year prison sentence if convicted of felony arson under California's "three strikes'' law.
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Developments:
∎ More than 5,000 firefighters were battling the fire, which has burned over 330,000 acres in Tehama County and more than 53,000 acres in Butte County.
∎ The blaze has destroyed at least 165 homes, businesses and other structures, and damaged over a dozen more.
∎ Some evacuations also were ordered in Shasta and Plumas counties. Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson said evacuation orders had been downgraded to warnings in some areas.
Hundreds evacuate as Colorado blaze grows, another fire ignites
A second wildfire has ignited in northern Colorado, about 30 miles from where the Alexander Mountain Fire near Lovelandquadrupled in size Tuesday, sprawling across nearly 3,600 acres with zero containment by the evening. It was at 900 acres Monday night.
The Stone Canyon Fire near the town of Lyons prompted Boulder County officials to expand an evacuation area that now includes parts of Larimer County. By 5 p.m. Mountain Time, evacuation orders also applied to parts of Lyons because of "changing wind conditions,'' according to an alert by Boulder's Office of Disaster Management.Air tankers and 10 firetrucks and other vehicles were contending with the blaze, which was estimated at 85 acres and growing in an earlier alert.
The U.S. Forest Service has taken control of the efforts to contain the Alexander Mountain Fire from Larimer County, but the blaze remained uncontrolled,according to InciWeb. Hundreds fled their homes after mandatory evacuation orders were issued for parts of Larimer County near the Wyoming border.
"We are still trying to work out our best plan of attack to get around this thing," incident commander Mike Smith said in a video update Tuesday. "There are some challenges directly north."
High temperatures and low humidity would likely strengthen the blaze, InciWeb warned. "Significant" smoke is expected over the next few days. Larimer County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Services Coordinator Justin Whitesellsaid drawing on firefighting resources from other states was made difficult because of wildfires burning elsewhere.
"We are doing the best we can with the resources we have," he said, adding firefighters were focused on evacuating people and protecting homes.
− Erin Udell and Holly Engelman, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Oregon's extreme weather has 'tested our limits'
Almost 10,000 firefighters were battling 43 large fires across Oregon, the state Forestry Department reported.That does not include "many of the local and agency government employees, landowners, forestland operators and members of the community who are contributing every day," the agency said in an update on the struggle.
Oregon's state climatologist, Larry O’Neill, said the state's heat waves will keep getting hotter, contributing to the fires. Deputy Director of Fire Operations Kyle Williams said the extreme weather has "tested our limits." Gov. Tina Kotek has declared a state of emergency, and National Guard teams have been called in to help with the blazes.
“The wildfire situation on the ground is dynamic and challenging, and we need all hands on deck,” Kotek said.
Five years later, couple loses second home to flames
In California, Butte County resident Rick Pero toldKHSL-TVthe Park Fire was the second wildfire to destroy his home. Pero and his wife moved to Forest Ranch after losing their previous home to the Camp Fire, which killed 85 people in the Butte County town of Paradise in 2018. After that event, Pero became a fire safety advocate and educated neighbors on maintaining a defensible space around their homes.
“Twenty-eight houses benefited from defensible space and are still standing," Pero said. But for his home and a few others, "it was just too much mother nature,” he said.
Fire advisories issued in 6 states
Eighty-nine large wildfires are burning nationwide and have scorchedmore than 3,300 square miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center report released Tuesday. Fire behavior advisories are in place forparts of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah and Nevada. Temperatures topping 100 degrees over much of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, combined with breezy southerly winds and low humidity, will promote a "continued drying trend" that could bring wildfires to the region, the fire center said.
There was some good news: "There are no fire environment concerns in the eastern half of the country, where high humidity and areas of rainfall will continue," the fire center said.
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Park Fire fueled by dry vegetation from record heat
The Park Fire has spread rapidly, fueled by dry vegetation resulting from weeks of record heat. Climate scientist Daniel Swain said that although data is insufficient to confirm claims the weather has been the hottest in thousand of years, "we can also refute the myriad claims I've been seeing lately that 'it was hot like this all the time when I was a kid!'" he wrote on social media. "It most certainly was not."
Tehama County Sheriff Dave Kain asked evacuees to be patient, saying many areas had appeared ready for residents to return, only to erupt in flames again. "This fire is extremely unstable and unpredictable," Kain said.
Park Fire's massive size:Blaze one of the biggest wildfires in California history
Collapse of 'carbon sink' hastening climate change
Forests and other land ecosystems failed to curb climate change in 2023 as intense drought in the Amazon rainforest and record wildfires in Canada hampered absorption of carbon dioxide, according to a study released Monday. A record amount of carbon dioxide entered Earth's atmosphere last year, further feeding global warming, the researchers said.
Forests and other land ecosystems on average absorb nearly a third of annual emissions from fossil fuels, industry and other human causes. But in 2023, that "carbon sink" collapsed, according to a study from the Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences, a French research organization.
"The sink is a pump, and we are pumping less carbon from the atmosphere into the land," co-author Philippe Ciaissaid. "Suddenly the pump is choking, and it's pumping less."
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Contributing: Reuters
