Western fires: California’s largest wildfire explodes in size | AP News

Thousands of firefighters were battling a wildfire in northern California on Saturday that exploded in size, scorching an area about the size of Los Angeles one of several blazes tearing through the western United States and Canada amid dry, hot and windy conditions.

The forecast called for cooler temperatures that could help slow the Park Fire, the largest blaze so far this year in California. The Park Fire s intensity and dramatic spread led fire officials to make unwelcome comparisons to the monstrous Camp Fire, which burned out of control in nearby Paradise in 2018, killing 85 people and torching 11,000 homes.

More than 130 structures have been destroyed by this fire so far, and thousands more are threatened as evacuations were ordered in four counties: Butte, Plumas, Tehama and Shasta.

The fire stood at 480 square miles (1,243 square kilometers) on Friday night and was moving quickly north and east after igniting Wednesday when authorities said a man pushed a burning car into a gully in Chico and then calmly blended in with others fleeing the scene.

via apnews.com

Eesh. If Stout did indeed start this awful fire, he deserves the full weight of the law.