A wildfire in Northern California that started when a burning car was pushed into a gully of dry brush became the fifth-largest fire in California history Tuesday when it grew to more than 383,000 acres.
The Park Fire started nearly a week ago near Chico in Butte County, about 100 miles north of Sacramento. The fire burned tens of thousands of acres in just a matter of hours as it raced into neighboring Tehama, Shasta and Plumas counties.
It expanded to 383,619 acres by Tuesday.
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At roughly 600 square miles, the estimated acreage is larger than the land area of the city of Los Angeles (470 square miles).
The Park Fire's size is surpassed only by the September 202 Creek Fire (379,895 acres) in Fresno and Madera counties; the August 2020 SCU Lightning Complex (396,625 acres) in Stanislaus, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties; the July 2018 Mendocino Complex (459,123 acres) in Colusa, Lake, Mendocino and Glenn counties; the July 2021 Dixie Fire (963,309 acres) in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta and Tehama counties; and the August Complex (1,032,648 acres), a group of fires in Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, Tehama, Glenn, Lake and Colusa counties that became California's largest wildfire on record in August 2020.
The Park Fire is near the site of the most destructive and deadliest wildfire in state history, the November 2018 Camp Fire (153,336 acres) that devastated the town of Paradise.
The #ParkFire has now escalated to become the fifth-largest wildfire in California's history, severely impacting Butte, Tehama, Shasta, and Plumas counties. This development underscores the critical importance of being #ReadyforWildfire. One of the most effective ways to ensure… pic.twitter.com/Esh3drISfg
— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) July 30, 2024
It is one of more than 100 wildfires burning this week in California. Ninety-five percent of the state's wildfires are caused by human activity, according to Cal Fire.
The largest wildfire this year in the state is one of several this summer behind a dramatic increase in the number of acres burned. So far in 2024, Cal Fire reported 4,613 fires statewide that have burned a staggering 751,327 acres.
Last year at this time, the state firefighting agency reported 3,746 fires that burned just 25,763 acres. The fire-year average for that period is 4,416 fires and 140,996 acres.
A man accused of setting the fire was arrested Thursday in connection with the Park Fire.
Containment Tuesday was at 14 percent.
