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, igniting 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 near Chico has burned almost 600 square miles in Tehama and Butte counties since igniting Wednesday, making it the sixth largest fire in California history . It was only 14% contained early Monday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection − Calfire − said.
"This didn't have to happen," Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said at a brieing. 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."
Developments:
∎ More than 5,000 firefighters were battling the fire, which has burned over 320,000 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.
Colorado's Alexander Mountain Fire near Loveland had sprawled across almost 1,000 acres by Tuesday morning, one day after it ignited. The U.S. Forest Service took control of the firefighting effort from Larimer County, but the fire remained completely uncontrolled, according to InciWeb . Hundreds fled their homes after mandatory evacuation orders in parts of Larimer County near the Wyoming border.
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 Whitesell said drawing on firefighting resources from other states was made difficult due to 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
In California, Butte County resident Rick Pero told KHSL -TV the Park Fire was the second Butte County wildfire to destroy his home. Pero and his wife moved to Forest Ranch after losing their previous home to the Camp Fire that killed more than 80 people in 2018. After that fire, 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,” Pero said.
Currently, 89 large wildfires are burning nationwide that have scorched over 3,300 square miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center report issued Tuesday. There are fuels and fire behavior advisories in place for parts of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah and Nevada. High temperatures surpassing 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.
Flames 'right by our front door': Wildfires rage across western US
The Park Fire has spread rapidly, fueled by dry vegetation resulting from weeks of record heat. Climate scientest Dr. 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!'" Swain 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
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 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 Ciais said. "Suddenly the pump is choking, and it's pumping less."
Wildfire smoke map: Track fires and red flag warnings across the US
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Arson suspect claims massive California blaze was an accident
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