Thousands of firefighters were working in mild temperatures and high humidity on Monday to battle a massive wildfire in Northern California, but the blaze that started five days ago has destroyed more than 100 buildings and is growing.
The Park Fire, which officials said was started by a man who pushed a burning car into a creek, grew slightly overnight to 368,000 acres (148,924 hectares). The sixth-largest wildfire in state history, according to Cal Fire, is raging in a remote area about 180 miles (290 km) northeast of San Francisco.
“Crews had a tough time today because the fire was so big and so massive,” said California Fire Captain Dan Collins, adding that temperatures were expected to be around 80 degrees and humidity was around 25 percent.
About 4,800 firefighters were building and strengthening containment lines Monday morning to prepare for a 12% increase in containment. Collins said favorable weather conditions, compared with the past several days, were helping.
The accused arson suspect, Ronnie Dean Stout II, was jailed without bail on a Butte County judge’s warrant after he was identified as the man who pushed a burning car into a drain Wednesday afternoon, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said in a statement.
The fire grew rapidly, doubling in size from Friday to Sunday and destroying at least 114 buildings in four counties.
The fire has prompted officials to issue evacuation warnings and orders for several communities, including Paradise, the town that was devastated by the 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest in state history.
Cal Fire also reported Monday that 33% of the SQF Lightning Complex, a blaze that has burned for the past two weeks about 350 miles (563 km) south of the Park Fire, had burned. A portion of that complex, called the Boreal Fire, spread to Havilah, burning much of the historic gold mining town to ashes on Friday.
The Park and Boreal fires were just two of 102 large active fires burning across the country. A total of 25 fires had forced evacuations as of Monday morning, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Rain and thunderstorms are forecast for the region on Monday as a cool air mass moves in from the Pacific Northwest, where the fires are burning. However, the center said in a statement that the system will also bring strong winds of up to 50 miles (80 km) per hour, which could hamper firefighting efforts.
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