Man arrested in connection with California wildfire that burned more than 120,000 acres

A Northern California wildfire that broke out overnight and became the state’s largest blaze this wildfire season, destroying structures and prompting thousands of evacuations, is believed to have been started by a man who pushed a burning car into a ravine, authorities said Thursday.

The 48-year-old suspect linked to the Park Fire in Butte County, near the town of Chico, was arrested Thursday morning and jailed without bail, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said.

Authorities identified the suspect as Ronnie Dean Stout II Thursday night, ahead of his arraignment Monday.

Stout was reportedly seen shortly before 3 p.m. local time Wednesday pushing a burning car into a ravine called “Alligator Hole” in Bidwell Park near Chico, Ramsey said.

“The car rolled down an embankment approximately 60 feet and completely burned, spreading flames that caused the park fire,” Ramsey said in a statement.

A man who was later identified as Stout was seen calmly leaving the area, blending in with other park visitors fleeing the rapidly moving fire, Ramsey said.

According to the prosecutor’s office, Stout has two prior convictions for serious crimes and will be charged Monday with whatever arson charges the evidence deems appropriate.

California’s “Three Strikes and You’re Out” law imposes a life sentence for almost any crime, no matter how minor, if the defendant has two prior convictions for crimes defined as serious or violent under the California Penal Code, according to Stanford Law School.

Stout’s prior felony convictions include lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 in 2001 and robbery with serious bodily injury in 2002, according to prosecutors.

He was sentenced to 20 years in state prison after his 2002 conviction, according to prosecutors.

The Park Fire in Butte County, California, and the Durkee Fire in Oregon, the nation’s largest wildfire, continued to fill West Coast skies with smoke Thursday as high winds and dangerous terrain posed challenges for firefighters battling both blazes, authorities said.

Park Fire Becomes State’s Largest Wildfire of 2024

The Park Fire started around 3 p.m. Wednesday northeast of the city of Chico in Bidwell Park and by Thursday afternoon had burned more than 124,000 acres, destroyed an unspecified number of structures and prompted the Butte County Sheriff’s Department to order the evacuation of rural communities in the area’s foothills, including nearly the entire town of Cohasset, population about 400.

More than 1,100 firefighters were battling the flames Thursday morning, using helicopters and cutting fire lines with bulldozers in a desperate attempt to prevent the blaze from spreading to homes in densely populated areas of northern Chico, authorities said.

The Park Fire was only 3 percent contained as of Thursday evening, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

“The fire is well established. Firefighters are currently focusing on evacuations and defense of structures while simultaneously building direct containment lines using bulldozers, fire crews and fire trucks,” Cal Fire said in an updated statement Thursday morning. “Additional resources have been ordered and are arriving from various areas throughout Northern California.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

At least 3,800 people have been ordered to evacuate in Butte and Tehama counties, authorities said.

The Park Fire has quickly grown into the state’s largest conflagration this wildfire season, surpassing the Lake Fire near Santa Barbara in Southern California that started July 5. As of Thursday morning, the Lake Fire had burned 38,664 people and was 90% contained, according to Cal Fire. The blaze has destroyed four structures and injured at least six firefighters, Cal Fire reported.

The Butte County fire was one of 64 new fires that broke out in California on Wednesday, according to Cal Fire.

Cal Fire spokesman Rick Carhart told ABC News Thursday that high temperatures and steep, rugged terrain in the fire zone are making it difficult for firefighters.

Carhart, who described the fire activity as “dynamic,” said temperatures in the area this week have been 100 to 110 degrees.

Authorities said that in the first 12 hours of the fire, flames were burning 4,000 acres per hour.

“It’s very, very hot. It’s extremely dry and almost any spark that hits the ground can start a fire,” Carhart said.

He said the area where the fire is most active has not burned in 20 years, providing an abundance of dry vegetation that fuels the blaze.

Cal Fire officials said the number of acres burned so far this wildfire season is 15 times higher than the same period in 2023. There have been nearly 800 more fires this year than last, including 54 that resulted in arson arrests, according to Cal Fire, in

Durkee fire is largest in country

In Oregon, the Durkee Fire in Baker County, sparked by lightning on July 17, was nearly 270,000 acres, or about 400 square miles, as of Thursday morning. The fire raging near the Idaho border was only 0% contained and had spread into neighboring Malheur County, according to the Oregon Fire Marshal’s Office.

President Biden called Oregon Gov. Kotek Thursday night to discuss wildfires across the state as thousands of federal personnel are on the ground helping fight the blazes and keep people safe.

The president offered his support to ensure the state has everything it needs to continue fighting the fires, according to the White House.

On Wednesday, Kotek announced it had invoked the Emergency Fire Act to increase resources to fight the Durkee Fire and the Battle Mountain Complex Fire, which consists of three active fires that have burned a total of about 64,000 people in the same area of ​​Umatilla County in eastern Oregon.

Kotek said she also deployed the National Guard to the Durkee and Battle Mountain fires.

Kotek said in a statement that the resources needed to fight the fires exceed local capabilities.

“The wildfires in eastern Oregon have intensified rapidly,” Kotek said. “We are experiencing strong and erratic winds across the region that could impact all of the fires. The rain is failing to clear. Some communities are without power. This is a dynamic situation and crews on the ground are dealing with it day by day. I have deployed National Guard resources that are currently serving eastern and southwestern Oregon. I know these communities are supporting each other, doing their part to heed the advice of authorities, and showing tremendous gratitude to our firefighters.”

Kotek said the Durkee Fire merged with another large fire in the area, the Cow Valley Fire, creating a monster-sized blaze.

The Baker County Sheriff’s Office said evacuation orders have been issued to residents living in the fire zone, including the 500 residents of the town of Huntington.

At a community briefing Wednesday night, firefighters said the Durkee Fire was burning so hot it had created its own weather system.

Jonathan Christ, a National Weather Service meteorologist assigned to the Durkee fire, said during a briefing that wind gusts fanning the fire were expected to reach 75 mph Wednesday night.

Temperatures in the area have been hovering between 32 and 35 degrees Celsius. Chriest said a cold front is moving into the Durkee Fire area, which could lower temperatures through the weekend, but could also bring northwest winds of 30 to 45 mph and flash flooding.

“This fire just hasn’t cooperated with us in terms of the weather. I don’t like to make excuses and I don’t like fires to overtake me, so that’s a tough thing to admit,” U.S. Forest Service Tyson Albrecht, incident commander on the Durkee Fire for Northwest Team 6, said during the briefing. “This fire and the weather we’ve had has been really tough. It’s going to continue to challenge us, but we’re going to continue to distance ourselves to minimize those impacts.”