California’s largest wildfire of the year explodes in size and destroys scores of buildings

The Park fire north of Chico — the largest blaze in California this year — exploded to more than 353,000 acres by Sunday morning, with its rapid spread destroying scores of buildings and forcing more evacuations.

It is now the seventh-largest fire in state history, and still “growing by leaps and bounds,” said David Acuna, battalion chief of communication for the southern region of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fire grew over three days, plowing north across Butte and Tehama counties. Initially fed by steady winds and high temperatures, its progress was abetted by the remote location, which made access by fire crews more difficult. It was listed at 178,090 acres Friday afternoon, but had grown to 353,194 acres by Sunday.

Containment crews faced setbacks, but appeared to gain some ground Saturday. What little containment crews had Thursday — listed at 3% — was reduced to 0% by Friday afternoon, according to the Cal Fire website. But by Sunday morning Cal Fire reported 12% containment.

“The Park Fire continued to burn aggressively due to steep terrain and winds. Extreme fire behavior has occurred due to the slope and winds aligning, causing significant growth,” Cal Fire officials wrote in a status update.

But they also noted the hopeful sign of a shift in the weather, with cooler temperatures and higher humidity in the Sacramento River Valley and Sierra Nevada foothills.

Temperatures that had ranged up to 100 degrees Friday had dropped into the mid-80s Saturday, while humidity that had been in the teens increased to 30%, according to the National Weather Service. Winds had also decreased, with gusts topping out at about 20 mph, about 5 mph lower than Friday.

“All the conditions have improved, as it was predicted they would,” said Bill Rasch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “The fuels are still dry and there will be some growth to the fire. But conditions are not as bad, and given that, we are hoping the growth will be less.”

“Obviously, the higher the humidity, the lower the temperature and the less wind — those are always going to be favorable conditions for firefighting,” said Robert Foxworthy, a Cal Fire spokesman. “So when the conditions are better like this it makes it better for firefighters.”

At least 134 buildings have been confirmed destroyed, and 4,200 are threatened, though no additional buildings had been lost Saturday morning, according to Cal Fire.

On Saturday, more resources were brought in to fight the blaze — which created a giant mushroom cloud that could be seen for miles — to take advantage of more favorable weather conditions. More than 1,000 additional firefighting personnel were brought in, including some from out of state, bringing the force to about 3,700, according to Cal Fire spokesman Jeremy Hollingshead.

“We are finally getting the resources we need,” Hollingshead said. “We are using this weather to our advantage.”

Firefighters remained focused on protecting the communities around the fire Friday, including Cohasset and Forest Ranch, where about 4,000 people were evacuated. A few structures in Forest Ranch burned, and the community remained threatened Saturday afternoon, Cal Fire said.

Some neighborhoods in northeast Chico were also evacuated, affecting about 400 people, along with several areas of Tehama County, authorities said.

Evacuation notices have also been extended to Shasta and Plumas counties, Acuna said. The town of Paradise — where the 2018 Camp fire burned more than 153,000 acres and killed 85 people — was also under an evacuation warning as of Friday night.

And given the devastation of the 2018 fire, which destroyed nearly 19,000 structures, some Paradise residents did not wait for a final get-out order. They left the town Saturday.

“I feel bad for the people who live up there,” said Lleyton Rice, a welder in Chico, whose family was driven out of Paradise by the Camp fire. “It’s so nerve-racking for them after everything that happened before.”

American Red Cross has set up an evacuation center at a Chico church at 2801 Notre Dame Blvd. for displaced residents who need food or a place to stay. Butte County has also set up animal shelters in Oroville.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday proclaimed a state of emergency in Butte and Tehama counties because of the Park fire — as well as in Plumas County because of the Gold Complex fire, which had burned more than 3,000 acres as of Friday.

“We are using every available tool to protect lives and property as our fire and emergency response teams work around the clock to combat these challenging fires,” Newsom said in a statement.

The threat extended beyond the human population.

Sheriff’s deputies ordered seven workers at the Wild Horse Sanctuary near Shingletown to evacuate Friday night, forcing the staff to release about 250 horses and burros on to the organization’s 5,000-acre property.

Most of the horses — rescued from public lands or facilities where they faced euthanasia — have experience living in the wild. But 18 riding horses used by the sanctuary’s staff also had to fend for themselves in the open.

The sanctuary staff awaited a sheriff’s escort Saturday afternoon, in hopes of returning to the property to dump hay for the animals.

“It’s survival of the fittest right now,” said Liz Juenke, who manages the facility and sits on its board. “The wild ones are used to it. But the 18 riding horses, they’re our little princesses. They’re not used to this. I hope they can do it. I think they can.”

Richardson Springs, a historic resort about 10 miles north of Chico, is facing possible destruction from the fire, according to Youth With A Mission, a Christian nonprofit that uses the resort for its Chico chapter.

The area is located along Mud Creek and became well known around the late 1800s and early 1900s for its mineral water, believed to have healing powers. The Richardson brothers built a boarding house, hotel and rental cottages that soon became a resort that housed celebrities such as Errol Flynn during the filming of “The Adventures of Robin Hood” and the Detroit Tigers during offseason training, according to the nonprofit. Its hotel lobby also was featured in “Gone with the Wind.”

The organization said no buildings were damaged as of Thursday morning but the area was still at “high risk,” according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. As of Friday afternoon, Cal Fire Butte County spokesperson Rick Carhart said officials do not have any information on whether the fire has damaged buildings at Richardson Springs.

Youth With A Mission did not respond immediately to a request for comment Friday.

“We honestly don’t know what’s going on right now,” a YWAM staff member said in a Facebook video Thursday at 7:34 p.m. “This is a changing situation … a lot of shifting of the winds, so we’re not out of the woods yet by any means.”

Residents at Richardson Springs, including YWAM staff, were ordered to evacuate Wednesday at 5 p.m., according to the nonprofit’s website. Since then, the fire has quickly spread north, as shown on AlertCalifornia camera footage from a tower on Richardson Springs Road. The last piece of footage from the tower was at 8:24 p.m. Wednesday and shows flames burning through a tree as it overtook the area.

The fire is burning north into the Ishi Wilderness and Lassen foothills, which experts say hasn’t seen fire activity in decades, perhaps a century.

“Once it got into that area, it had a lot of fuel to consume,” said Dan Collins, a Cal Fire spokesperson for the Butte Unit.

Zeke Lunder, a fire specialist and geographer based in Chico, agreed with Collins and said the lack of recent fires has made the area a jackpot for flames.

Ronnie Dean Stout II, a 42-year-old Chico man, was arrested on suspicion of starting the Park fire.

(Butte County district attorney’s office)

“A lot of us who work in fire have kind of been waiting for this fire to happen for the last 25 years,” he said.

The fire also is burning near two creeks that provide critical habitat for struggling salmon. Scientists and officials said they’re concerned the fire could bring another severe blow for threatened spring-run chinook salmon, which typically spend the summer in Deer Creek and Mill Creek before spawning in the fall.

“It’s a very serious threat, depending on how this fire proceeds,” said Andrew Rypel, a professor of fish ecology and director of UC Davis’ Center for Watershed Sciences.

Even before the fire, biologists were so alarmed about a recent crash in the spring-run salmon population that last year they began capturing juvenile fish from Deer Creek to breed them in captivity.

Rypel said a large fire like this one could seriously harm water quality to a point that would kill fish.

“There was a very, very high amount of concern about these populations independent of the fire. And now you have a significant local threat which is very hard to control,” Rypel said.

On Thursday, authorities announced they had arrested 42-year-old Ronnie Dean Stout II, a Chico resident, on suspicion of arson. Prosecutors said the man pushed a burning car into a gully, starting the fast-moving fire.

“It is maddening that we’re here again, and it is particularly maddening that this particular fire was caused by an individual,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. “During this particular time of year, we are under a very high threat for fire.”

California has secured a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to bolster resources for local, state and tribal agencies responding to the fire in Butte and Tehama counties. The grant gives agencies access to a 75% reimbursement of certain expenses related to fire suppression.

Administered by Governor’s Office of Emergency Service, the program will provide “rapid financial assistance to communities impacted by fires,” according to Newsom’s office.

Wildfires can rack up billions of dollars in losses for a county, with costs only expected to increase as blazes get larger, faster and more frequent across California.

The Park fire was one of several burning in California:

• A fast-moving fire near Lake Elsinore on Thursday temporarily forced the evacuation of dozens of homes. The 145-acre Macy fire broke out in vegetation around 5:40 p.m. and was 90% contained as of midday Saturday.
• The Flynn fire temporarily closed Interstate 580 in Altamont in Alameda County and burned more than 500 acres. It is 80% contained.
• In Contra Costa County, firefighters were battling the Point fire in the Bay Point community, which had grown to 471 acres but was 40% contained.

Garrett Sjolund, the fire chief for Cal Fire’s Butte County unit, said he’s hopeful an expected drop in temperatures this weekend could assist in fighting the Park fire and others across the region.

“It’s kind of a moving target with the way the weather patterns are coming in,” he said.

Times staff writers Joseph Serna and Luke Money contributed to this report.