Wildfires in California continue to burn as firefighters work to contain them.
The Park Fire in Butte, Tehama, Shasta and Plumas counties — the largest of California’s active fires — has burned more than 373,000 acres with just 14% containment as of Monday night, according to Cal Fire.
The fire broke out in a park in Chico on Wednesday and quickly spread across the northern wildlands, blooming until more than 348,000 acres without containment as of Saturday afternoon, Cal Fire said.
It has already surpassed the size of the 2020 North Complex fire and the 2020 fire LNU Lightning Complex Fire to become the sixth largest fire in state history, according to Cal Fire.
Authorities allege the park fire started when a man pushed a burning car down an embankment on Wednesday. A suspect, Ronnie Dean Stout II, 42, of Chico, was arrested Thursday, Ramsey said. He was booked on suspicion of arson and held without bond, according to Butte County Jail records.
On Sunday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said “all hands are on deck” in the effort to contain the fire.
“You’re hearing air assets above, getting all hands on deck,” Newsom said in a video on X. “350,000 acres and growing by the second. Over 2,500 people working the fire, working to hold the line, doing what they can.”
Active wildfires across California consumed more than 726,000 acres over the weekend, according to Cal Fire.
The Gold Complex Fire, which started a week ago, consumed 3,007 acres and was 98% contained as of Monday morning, the agency’s website indicated.
Elsewhere in California, the SQF Lightning Fire, which combined the Borel Fire, Trout Fire and other fires in and near Sequoia National Forest, burned more than 23,000 acres and had 0% containment.
Elevated fire risk continues across the West on Monday as a result of raging wildfires, with red flag warnings spread across parts of California, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.
Haze and smoke from wildfires will move east toward the Plains and Midwest on Monday and Tuesday. Air quality advisories are in effect for parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado.
The new week also brings with it an expanded upper-level high pressure system that will once again push temperatures into triple digits by midweek across much of the country’s central region, federal meteorologists said.
The High Plains and the Middle and Lower Mississippi Valley could see temperatures as high as 115 degrees, the weather service said, with little cooling likely due to overnight low temperatures expected to remain in the low 70s.
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