In viral TikTok video, woman details how she saw man allegedly start Park Fire near Chico
In a viral TikTok video, a woman said she saw a man blow up his car, put it in neutral and roll it down a hill, allegedly sparking the Park Fire near Chico.
The fast-growing fire has become California’s largest wildfire to date this year, estimated at 71,489 acres — or 111 square miles — as of midday Thursday, state officials reported.
A 42-year-old Chico man was arrested on suspicion of sparking the fire. He was seen around 3 p.m. Wednesday pushing a car that was on fire into a ditch in Upper Bidwell Park, said Mike Ramsey, Butte County’s district attorney.
“I saw him take off like nothing happened,” she said in the video. “That fire spread so fast, and I barely got out of there.”
The video was posted by a user named Elizabeth Fox, who uses the account name mythicf0x. Within 19 hours, the video garnered more than 670,000 views and 75,000 likes.
She said she took a picture of the man, which she included in the video, and that she gave a statement to police.
“How can people be so cruel,” she asked, holding back tears.
The Sacramento Bee reached out to the video creator but did not immediately receive a response.
