Park fire grows into sixth largest wildfire ever in California

Thousands of firefighters battling a massive wildfire in Northern California worked in milder temperatures and higher humidity Monday, but the blaze, which has destroyed more than 100 buildings since it began five days ago, continues to grow.

The Park Fire, which officials say was started by a man pushing a burning car into a ravine, grew slightly overnight to 368,000 acres (148,924 hectares). The sixth-largest wildfire in state history is burning in a remote area about 180 miles (290 km) northeast of San Francisco, Cal Fire said.

Crews were “still going to have a pretty good firefight today just because of the sheer size and magnitude of the fire,” said Dan Collins, a Cal Fire captain, who noted that daytime temperatures were expected to be around 80 degrees Fahrenheit with 25 percent humidity.

About 4,800 firefighters were building and reinforcing control lines Monday morning in hopes of increasing the 12% they had contained. More favorable weather conditions compared to those they had faced in recent days helped, Collins added.

Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said in a statement that arson suspect Ronnie Dean Stout II was being held without bail on a Butte County judge’s warrant after he was identified as the person who pushed a burning car into a ditch Wednesday afternoon.

The fire spread rapidly, doubling in size from Friday to Sunday, destroying at least 114 buildings in four provinces.

The fire has also prompted officials to issue evacuation warnings and orders for several communities, including Paradise, the town devastated by the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest in state history. Cal Fire also reported Monday that 33% of the SQF Lightning Complex was contained, a fire that has been burning for the past two weeks about 350 miles (563 kilometers) south of the Park Fire. A portion of that complex, dubbed the Borel Fire, tore through Havilah, burning much of the historic gold mining town on Friday.

The Park and Borel fires were just two of 102 large active fires burning nationwide, with a total of 25 forced evacuations as of Monday morning, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

A cold front in the Pacific Northwest, where many of the fires are burning, is expected to bring rain and thunderstorms to the region on Monday. However, the system will bring strong winds of up to 50 miles (80 km) per hour, which could hamper firefighting efforts, the center said in a statement.