Park Fire burns ‘more than 3 times the surface area of Lake Tahoe’ in less than a week
Tuesday marks the seventh day of the Park Fire, which has burned 385,065 acres (600 square miles), making it the fifth-largest wildfire in California’s recorded history. Firefighters have reached 14% containment on the blaze.
According to Cal Fire, the fire’s perimeter is 260 miles long, meaning it has burned “more than 3 times the surface area of Lake Tahoe” as of Tuesday morning. Jeremy Pierce, an operations section chief at Cal Fire, said in a Tuesday morning briefing to crews that they have made “tremendous progress” on the lower sections of the fire.
As of Tuesday morning, Cal Fire has confirmed 192 structures have been destroyed and another 19 were damaged in the fire. Roughly 4,200 buildings are still considered under threat by the blaze. No deaths have been reported.
Evacuations remain in sections of Butte, Tehama and Shasta counties, though authorities lifted restrictions in Magalia and Paradise. Tuesday afternoon, the Butte County Sheriff lifted evacuation warnings along Centerville Road down to Nimshew, as well as an area east of Forest Ranch in the southern segment of Doe Mill Road.
Newer evacuation orders remain for areas of Manton and Shingletown. One voluntary evacuation area has been activated in Plumas County.
In a video briefing Tuesday morning, operation section chief Mark Brunton said the northwestern section of the fire, in Tehama County, saw a “significant increase in fire activity” on Monday afternoon. The area is in rugged, inaccessible terrain, which was a challenge for crews to lay control lines, Brunton said.
Crews on Tuesday will be at various stages of fire management, according to a Cal Fire update. Some of the more than 5,500 personnel are still attempting to build containment lines in tricky terrain, some are defending structures in the area and others are mopping up controlled areas.
According to Billy See, a Cal Fire incident commander on the Park Fire, crews began repopulating areas along Highway 32, including Forest Ranch, on Monday, which he said is part of “developing some normalcy for the communities out there.” Crews in the lower areas of the incident will continue to repopulate communities Tuesday, Pierce said.
Winds on Tuesday are expected to be slightly lighter than before, but temperatures are once again rising after a dip, according to Cal Fire. Gusts are predicted to reach 15 mph, which is 5 mph weaker than Monday. However, Brunton said in the briefing that changes in weather patterns have extended the amount of time the fire is active each day.
The man accused of starting the fire last Wednesday, Ronnie Stout, appeared in Butte County court on Monday, charged with one count of arson of an inhabited structure or property with enhancements for arson with special circumstances and multiple prior conviction strikes.
Stout did not enter a plea deal in court, and Judge Kristen Lucena ruled that he would remain in jail without bail because of the “extreme danger posed by the crime of arson.” Stout is scheduled to appear again in court Thursday.
