The Park Fire in Butte County, already the largest blaze in California this year, exploded to more than 164,000 acres by Friday morning, and its rapid spread forced more evacuation warnings to be issued.
The fire has grown dramatically in two days amid steady winds and high temperatures, and its remote location makes it difficult to extinguish. As of Friday morning, the blaze was 164,286 acres in size and 3% contained.
Conditions on the ground will remain challenging, forecasters say.
The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for the northern Sacramento Valley, which includes the region where the fire is spreading. Forecasters warned that wind gusts of up to 30 mph could push the fire northward, combined with low humidity through Friday night, which “may cause new fires to ignite and ongoing wildfires to … grow rapidly and dangerously in size and intensity.”
It was one of several fires that burned in California.
In Butte County, firefighters battling the Park Fire focused on protecting structures and the public until additional crews arrived.
The Butte County Sheriff's Office ordered residents northeast of Chico to evacuate, and more than 4,000 people had been evacuated as of Thursday evening, according to Megan McMann, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office. Several rural areas of Tehama County were also under evacuation orders.
The fire is burning northward toward the Ishi Wilderness Area and the Lassen Hills, where experts say there has been no fire activity in decades, if not a century.
“Once he got into that area, he had a lot of fuel to burn,” Collins said.
“A lot of us who work with fire have been waiting for this fire to happen for the last 25 years,” said Zeke Lunder, a fire specialist and geographer in Chico. He said the lack of recent fires has made the area a hotbed for fires.
On Thursday afternoon, authorities announced they had arrested a 42-year-old Chico resident on suspicion of arson. Prosecutors said the man pushed a burning car into a ravine, sparking the rapidly spreading blaze.
