The Park Fire was started intentionally on Wednesday. By Sunday, the blaze covers an area the size of Los Angeles. The first good news officials have to report is that the weather is cooperating. It went from zero percent contained all the way up to 12% overnight. The wind slowing down was the biggest factor. This destruction is historic but the destitute petty criminal who started it won’t be picking up the tab. Taxpayers will.
Fire growth slows
Fire officials are reporting that the blaze currently ranked the 7th largest in state history is finally coming under containment. It moved up in standing overnight from the 8th largest and is still the biggest one burning anywhere, right now.
Ronnie Stout, a 42-year-old convicted bandit and child molester, currently on probation for DUI started it. Someone with a cellphone filmed him walking away casually. After torching his mom’s car and pushing it down a ravine, into a whole bunch of tinder-dry brush. That was near the town of Chico.
Evacuation orders have been issued to thousands, forcing residents “as far northeast as the Shingletown-Manton area and into Lassen Volcanic National Park” to abandon their homes and livestock to the flames.
Crews make progress as massive Park fire swells beyond 350,000 acres https://t.co/5r1dmvD2YZ
— Luca Sorbi (@LucaBernard60) July 28, 2024
With high winds, high temps and low humidity, the “fire tore through Butte and Tehama counties for three days.” The shift in weather conditions helped crews keep it out of Shasta County.
As of Sunday morning, authorities are sizing the inferno at 353,194 acres. That’s good news because it’s only up 3,000 acres since Saturday. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection lists it as 12% contained. That’s certainly a step in the right direction after hovering at zero for days.
The latest count has the official count of structures destroyed at 66. That’s down from the 100 estimated but expected to keep going up.
Holding on a ridge
“The fire is holding up on a ridge in the Manton area,” Public information officer Jeremy Hollingshead informs. “We have dozer lines, retardant lines and crews going direct on that area to ensure that it is not going to go further north.” He has nothing but praise for the front-line firefighters.
“We have been going direct and really using weather to our advantage. The men and women have worked hard to try to put this thing to bed as soon as possible.”
The evacuated residents aren’t happy with the situation. More than 4,000 families have been displaced. Evacuation warnings and orders in four counties: Butte, Tehama, Shasta and Plumas.
HEART team is caravanning to the Chico area to assist with the Park Fire livestock evacuation pic.twitter.com/Zwl3oTkImQ
— ꧁☕ Herbal Tea Witch🔮꧂ (@CoffeeGirl_CG) July 28, 2024
The Park fire went “ripping through grass, brush, timber and dead vegetation,” with the inferno speeding outward “at up to 8 square miles, or 5,000 acres, per hour.” That’s not good for livestock and wildlife.
This fire is large enough to be easily seen from orbit. There hasn’t been any information released as to what caused Ronnie Stout to set the blaze.
It’s unclear if he intended his mother’s car to ignite a historic size bonfire, just for kicks. He might have simply been mad at his mom and didn’t think about the consequences of torching her car. It’s just another senseless act which underscores liberal policies toward mental health incarceration and law enforcement in general.
