California's largest wildfire explodes to 350,000 acres in hours

The Park Fire, which was intentionally set in Butte and Tehama counties had grown to 307,368 acres by Saturday morning, is not contained, and It is already the largest wildfire in California since 2021 and the seventh among the 10 largest fires on record in the state, according to Cal Fire.

Cal Fire shared a video on social media showing how “the Park Fire continues to exhibit extreme behavior, destroying buildings and prompting evacuation orders for thousands of people. Firefighting personnel continue to face challenging conditions as they work tirelessly to contain the ongoing fire.”

The fire has been spreading to an average pace of more than 60 football fields per minute since it began and has destroyed 134 structures, threatened several thousand more and forced the evacuation of thousands of people in Northern California.

Ronnie Dean Stout, II, 42-year-old was arrested Thursday and accused of pushing a burning car into a ravine, what caused the huge Park fire.

The fire near Chico affected several rural towns in Tehama County overnight and on Saturday morningor forcing firefighters to battle the flames with little respite and to continue adjusting their strategy, a response that one official called “unprecedented.”

Meteorologist Daniel Swain predicted that the fire could become one of the three largest in California history.

On the northern flank of the fire, Flames crossed Highway 36 overnight, the line that firefighters hoped would contain the flames, officials told firefighters at a briefing Saturday morning at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico.

The authorities also Lassen Volcanic National Park closed as the fire approached the western edge of the park on Saturday. All park visitors and employees were evacuated and reservations were canceled.

The fire tornado created by the flames

The following post shared on X, shows in a video “The rare fire tornado at the #Parkfire near #Chico, where the winds from the fire form a tornado and the fire appears to spread across the road from one side to the other. 7.26.24”

California Governor Declared Emergency

The fires prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency on Friday, making it easier for affected residents to access government resources such as unemployment funds.

Flames threaten Paradise again

Now the fire threatens Paradise, a city that has already suffered the severe trauma of forest fires, where there has been aa citywide evacuation warningaccording to a city news release issued Friday night.

In 2018, The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed nearly 19,000 structures in and around Paradise. The city is still dealing with the aftermath of the fire nearly six years later.

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