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Original Post Park Fire 7-25-24

Another bad fire ignited not too far from me yesterday afternoon, the Park Fire, in the lower foothills just on the outskirts of the city of Chico, California (about 35 miles from me). It was very hot yesterday, mid-to-high 100's, with wind gusts of 25 - 30 mph - perfect conditions for the start of a major fire.

Weather over the fire area today is predicted to be sunny and hot, with a high near 102. South southeast wind 6 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Not good.

Rumor has it that the fire was started by a man driving his already burning vehicle off the road into dry brush in Bidwell Park. Many of you in other parts of the country might think of "park" as a neatly manicured green square. No so for a "park" here in many parts of arid California. Bidwell Park is actually a bit of natural wildlands (think steep rocky gullies, tall dead grasses, chaparral, dry brush and native oak trees) located slightly within the city of Chico, and extending on into the lower foothills.

Bidwell Park


This fire is not too far from the town of Paradise, which burned to the ground in the Camp Fire in 2018, which destroyed more than 18,000 structures, including 90% of homes, with about eighty fatalities.



This fire is looking like it has the potential to be another really bad one, and likely will be burning for a while - it has had an incredible rate of spread over the last eight hours or so. Initially starting yesterday afternoon, July 24 (around 3:00 p.m.), by about 6:00 a.m. this morning it is now being mapped at forty-five thousand acres. To put this into perspective, 45 thousand acres is about seventy square miles.



The town of Cohasset was evacuated last night, some residents being led away along dirt logging roads by local loggers, because the single road in and out of town was blocked by fire.

The photo below is from The Lookout, a great source for fire info in Northern California:
https://the-lookout.org/2024/07/25/the-park-fire-near-chico-california/



I am not having getting any smoke here, at least at the moment. Likely I will get smoke later in the day as the wind direction changes. And, unfortunately, windy conditions are persisting.

Anne

Sorry about your fire. I've been watching the fire at Jasper National Park in Canada. Such a beautiful place. I hope not as devastated as it seems.

We have so many fires going on here it is hard to keep track of the names All over Oregon . Eastern and Central Oregon have never totally recovered from the drought so things are still very dry over there. We have a great app to help follow the fires it is actually available in many states. We only have one reporter (volunteer) in Douglas County. He happens to be the one that started The Roseburg Receiver scanner page that I moderate for when able. He was on the Eugene news station KEZI yesterday as part of the "WATCH DUTY" app that is one of the official reporting areas. Yesterday they announced that they have live cameras set up at various fires. They try to keep us updated as frequently as they can.
You can download on your phone or browser

https://www.watchduty.org/

I Just read that the man who pushed his car where he did has been arrested. No solace for the damage, but I'm glad he was caught.

Bethers wrote:I Just read that the man who pushed his car where he did has been arrested. No solace for the damage, but I'm glad he was caught.

Beth, this fire is turning into a really bad one. This morning it was mapped at about 71,000 acres; I just heard a few minutes ago that it is now over 120,000 acres - an increase of 50,000 acres in just a few short hours.

And it is still burning extremely "hot" and moving like a freight train.

I understand that evacuation warnings have just been issued for the west side of the city of Paradise - this was the foothill town that pretty much burned to the ground in 2018.

I was up there a couple of weeks ago, and many places are still rebuilding from the 2018 fire. . .

Anne

Park Fire update 7/26/24 @ 8:00 a.m.

As of this morning, the footprint of the Park Fire is mapped at 164,282 acres. This works out to 256 square miles.

Several million-dollar homes were lost to the fire last night. As of this morning, the fire continues to vigorously burn.

Anne

As of about 4:00 p.m. today, the Park Fire is standing at about 180,000 acres burned in only two days. During the press conference put on by Butte County officials at 3 o'clock this afternoon, it was stated that the fire's current rate of spread is 4,000 - 5,000 acres per hour.

The fire continues to burn explosively in brush and conifer forest in the high heat and low humidity conditions we have here currently.

131 structures are known to have been lost at the present time, with 4,000 people evacuated out of their homes.

Mandatory evacuation orders continue to be implemented in new areas of Butte and Tehama counties.

Anne

I read more about how the man did this deliberately. Disgusting.

Bethers wrote:I read more about how the man did this deliberately. Disgusting.

According to the press conference given by Butte County officials, there is a witness that saw this man next to his vehicle in Bidwell Park, with a small fire under the vehicle - which the witness though rather strange.

Butte County Press Conference 7-26-24
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=693242109634901

The witness then watched this man pushed the vehicle off of the bluff into the dry brush below, whereupon everything instantly burst into flame. The witness reported that the man just casually walked away, mingling with the crowd. Thanks to the witness the man was later arrested at his home. According to the Butte County District Attorney this man has a record of child abuse, and had recently been released from twenty years in prison.

He is being held without bail, and is due for arraignment on Monday.

This fire is unbelievable - it has now spread through the lower foothills with a run of about 25 - 30 miles in less than two days, has now burned 239,152 acres (373 square miles), remains completely uncontained, and continues to spread at the rate of 4,000 - 5,000 acres per hour.

It has burned at least two multi-million dollar homes and at least 132 structures.

Within the next few hours it is expected to burn into the high country where it will encounter massive conifers, further fueling this fire.

Wind gusts in the area of the fire tonight are predicted to be up to 30 mph at times. Massive evacuations are currently in process all over the lower Sierra foothills. The Park Fire is continuing to burn in Butte County, and this evening is moving into Tehama, Lassen and Shasta Counties.

The Dixie Fire was the worst wildfire in the history of the State of California, igniting July 13, 2021, and burning a total of 963,309 acres (1,505 square miles). The Dixie Fire burned until late October. The Dixie Fire wasn't stopped until the weather changed, and California's annual autumn rains finally arrived.

The Park Fire has already burned at least 25% as much acreage as did the Dixie Fire.

And the Park Fire has only been burning for two days.

Anne

Update 7:55 p.m. 7-26-24

Evacuation orders are now being put in place for the town of Shingletown due to the approach of the Park Fire. The Park fire ignited on the outskirts of Chico, Ca., Wednesday afternoon about 3:00 p.m.

The straight-line distance between Chico and Shingletown is approximately sixty miles.

Anne

It’s terrifying! Hoping the weekend forecast will slow it down.

Morning Update, 7/27/24

This from the CalFire website:
https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024/7/24/park-fire/updates/ea8871c1-fbc8-4c0c-af2b-46707147748b

"The Park Fire continued to burn aggressively due to steep terrain and winds. Extreme fire behavior has occurred due to the slope and winds aligning, causing significant growth.

Cooler weather and higher moisture in the air is expected for today in the region.

New evacuation orders and warnings were issued. Please use the evacuation maps to know your zone.

In Butte County, 52,190 acres have burned.
In Tehama County, 255,178 acres have burned.
The fire is burning in grass, brush, mixed timber, and dead vegetation.

Damage inspection teams are working to identify structures that have been damaged or destroyed."

Many Sierra foothill towns are under evacuation orders: Shingle Springs, Manton, Mineral and many others.

Weather is significantly cooler this morning, with an increase in relative humidity, which will greatly help in the firefight.

Yesterday the Park Fire became the 13th worst fire in the state of California - with only two days of burn. Total area burned thus far (and the fire is still actively burning) 307,368 acres (480 square miles).

Anne

Not about the horrendous fires…hop this is not too political for this forum. I am watching the women’s field hockey at the Olympic’s. It was thrilling and made me very proud. ALL the women were smiling and singing when the Nat’l Anthem was played.!!! Lyn