Burning car pushed into gully blamed for wild re
A burning car pushed into a gully sparked California’s largest wildfire of the year, authorities said Thursday as they announced the arrest of a suspect. Meanwhile other blazes scorched the Pacific Northwest.
Flames from the fire the man is accused of starting exploded into what is now the Park Fire, which has burned more than 110 square miles near the city of Chico. Evacuations were ordered in Butte and Tehama counties, with the blaze only 3% contained by midday Thursday.
California authorities did not immediately name the man they arrested.
As evacuations continued in California, some Oregon residents were cleared to return home after a thunderstorm dropped welcome rain but also potentially dangerous lightning on the biggest active blaze in the United States. More than two dozen new fires started in Montana on Wednesday and early Thursday, and another fast-moving wildfire forced thousands to abandon a town in Canada.
In eastern Oregon, evacuation orders were lifted Thursday for the city of Huntington, population 500, after a severe thunderstorm late Wednesday brought some rain and cooler temperatures to the nearly 630 square miles urned by the Durkee Fire — the nation’s biggest — and another nearby blaze. Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash called the rain a “godsend,” but residents were warned to be ready to go again at a moment’s notice.
In northern California, fire personnel were focusing on evacuations and defending structures while using bulldozers to build containment lines ahead of the Park Fire. No deaths or damage to structures had been reported, CAL FIRE/ Butte County Fire Department said in a Thursday update.
A fire in southern California was much smaller, but moving fast and threatening homes.
Evacuation orders were in effect Wednesday night in San Diego County after a wildfire began to spread fast near the San Diego and Riverside county line.