An American flag flies outside of a home on Cohasset Road after the Park Fire swept through the night before outside of Chico on July 26, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Updated 5:15 p.m. Monday
Ronnie Dean Stout II, the person officials allege started the Park Fire by pushing a flaming car off a cliff, appeared in a Butte County Superior Court in Oroville today. He was charged with arson.
Stout, who lives with his mother in Chico according to officials, did not enter a plea. His next hearing is Thursday.
Stout, 42, is potentially facing 25 years to life under California’s three-strike law, according to Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey, who spoke to reporters following the hearing.
Stout told investigators that the car caught on fire accidentally and that he fled the area because he was frightened. He denied that he pushed it into the ravine, Ramsey said.
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Stout was arrested at 1:30 a.m. on July 25, several hours after the fire started. Ramsey said that at the time of his arrest, Stout’s blood alcohol level was over the legal limit. Witnesses at the scene told investigators that Stout was driving erratically and behaving as if he was extremely intoxicated, according to Ramsey.
“Why would he do this? What’s the reasoning? At this time, we don’t know,” Ramsey said.
Witnesses also told investigators that they heard the sound of metal scraping on rock as if a car was stuck and the driver was revving the engine, which could have caused a spark.
The Park Fire burns along Route 32 northeast of Chico on July 26, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
“The indication is he didn’t purposely light the car on fire because he was trying to get out of being stuck on the edge of a berm,” Ramsey said. “Being stuck on that edge of that berm, he was revving the engine. We have another witness who saw dirt and smoke coming up, then followed immediately by smoke. Then fire. There’s an extraordinary amount of dry grass.”
Stout, who is on probation for driving under the influence of alcohol, has a history of arrests dating back to 1995, according to public records. Two of the most serious cases are felony convictions, including one in 2001 in Butte County for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14.
He was convicted of robbery with great bodily injury in 2002 in Kern County and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in October 2018.
KQED could not reach Stout’s attorney for comment.
After continuing its explosive growth over the weekend, the Park Fire has burned more than 368,000 acres across four Northern California counties.
The fire, which began on Wednesday in Chico’s Upper Bidwell Park, has forced evacuation orders in Butte, Tehama, Plumas and Shasta counties. More than 4,800 personnel from around the country are battling the blaze, which is 12% contained.
“This is the largest fire in California right now, so we have a lot of resources assigned to it,” Cal Fire forestry assistant Jahaira Zaragoza said Monday morning. The Park Fire is the largest active blaze in the U.S. and the sixth largest in California history.
As of Monday morning, 109 structures had been destroyed and five had been damaged; the numbers were revised down over the weekend as damage assessment crews made their way through the path of the fire. An additional 4,200 structures remain threatened.
The blaze continued to spread overnight before fire activity seemed to ease in the early hours of the morning as humidity increased, but officials expected weather conditions to cause it to pick back up throughout the day.
Fire retardant from an airdrop covers a truck on Cohasset Road outside of Chico on July 26, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
The fire is expected to continue to spread substantially despite an aggressive approach by firefighters, according to UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain.
“I think what we’re realizing is that even with probably the most well-resourced wildland firefighting agency in the world in California, Cal Fire, it’s still beyond technology to address a fire at that scope,” Swain said in a webcast on Saturday afternoon.
He said the fire is likely to reach 500,000 acres, and it seems possible it could expand to a million.
The Park Fire’s movement has been rapid since it began Wednesday afternoon, spreading initially through Tehama and Butte counties. In its first four days, it spread at a rate of about 5,000 acres an hour, Cal Fire Incident Commander Billy See said during a press briefing on Saturday.
On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state had secured additional federal assistance while visiting the site of the fire. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also declared Sunday that he would send more than 100 fire and emergency management personnel to aid California engines assigned to the blaze.
Weather conditions could continue to challenge firefighters this week.
“Southwest winds are expected today, along with low fuel moistures and fire receptive fuels, which will be a factor in increased fire activity throughout the day,” according to Cal Fire’s most recent incident update on Monday morning.
Zaragoza said that the terrain in the area also makes fighting the fire challenging.
“We have a lot of lava rock in here, so it’s making it really difficult to access,” she said. Within Lassen National Forest, near where the fire spread over the weekend, there is a lot of this lava rock, according to Zaragoza.
Throughout the first half of the week, similar humidity and heat conditions are expected. A warming trend is expected to begin Wednesday through the weekend, bringing temperatures in the 90s and 100s to the area of the fire, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Bakari Anderson. Drier conditions are also expected later this week, which can increase the risk of fire spread, he said.
Tehama County Evacuation Resource Center, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 510 Jefferson St., Red Bluff, CA 96080. Saturday: 9 a.m.–6 p.m. and Sunday: 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Butte County: North Valley Animal Disaster Group Small Animal Shelter, 2279 Del Oro Ave., Oroville, CA 95965, 8 a.m.–9 p.m. No waterfowl or chickens are accepted. 530-895-0000
Tehama County: Ridgeway Park Large Animal Shelter, 19725 Ridge Road, Red Bluff, CA 96080, 7 a.m.–9 p.m. Self Service: Provide your own setup and feed. Ridgeway has open space, an arena area, and space for folks to bring panels in to set up locations for livestock.
Tehama County: Corning Rodeo Grounds at Estill C. Clark Park Large Animal Shelter, 103 E. Fig Lane, Corning, CA 96021. Self Service: Provide your own setup and feed. Power and water will be available. Use the east gate at the road on Fig Lane to access the location; the gate will be shut but not locked.
The Tehama County Sheriff’s Office offers escorts for residents to evacuate or feed and water animals left behind. Owners can call 530-529-7940 to schedule a time slot to be escorted between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
