Horses being evacuated as a massive fire spreads in Chico, northern California (Picture: AP)
A massive wildfire continues to burn ferociously in northern California, as police arrest a man on suspicion of arson.
Ronnie Dean Stout II, 42, was arrested after a man was seen pushing a car on fire into a gully in Bidwell Park, on the outskirts of Chico city, Butte County on Wednesday afternoon.
Butte County District Attorney’s Office said the car went down a 60-foot embankment, burned completely and spread flames through the park and beyond.
The DA’s Office says the man was then seen calmly leaving the area, blending in with the members of the public, reports krcrtv.com.
The blaze, which has been named Park Fire, escalated dramatically and has since burned around 120,000 acres of land and was reportedly only 3% contained by Thursday night.
More than 1,150 firefighters have been deployed to tackle it, according to CalFire, while governor Gavin Newsom said over 3,500 people had evacuated the area.
No injures have been reported.
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Firefighters battling the Chico blaze (Picture: AP)
Chico sits just 12 miles (20 kilometers) west of Paradise, a town that was destroyed by a massive wildfire in 2018, resulting in the deaths of 85 people.
On Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a ‘red flag’ weather warning for ‘critical fire weather conditions’ in the area, including wind gusts and low humidity.
The western United States has experienced several heat waves since the beginning of June, and dozens of fires are currently burning in the region.
Ronnie Stout II was arrested on suspicion of arson (Picture: Butte County Sheriff’s Office)
What remains of the burning car that was pushed into a gulley on Wednesday and reportedly started the blaze
Two people walk along the road as the fire rages behind them (Picture: Reuters)
Oregon, California’s northern neighbor, is also battling a megafire that is the largest in the country, having ravaged more than 268,000 acres of forest and prompting evacuations in the region.
The raging flames have created vast columns of smoke, affecting air quality as far away as neighboring Idaho.
Wildfires were also burning in western Canada, where part of the tourist town of Jasper has been destroyed.
A plume of smoke rises into the sky (Picture: AP)
A burnt out vehicle sits outside a destroyed property (Picture: AP)
Little remains of a home destroyed by the Park Fire (Picture: AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Western North America has increasingly been affected by extreme weather events, exacerbated by climate change.
In mid-July, Newsom warned of a fire season that was ‘shaping up to be very active’.
Extreme weather events have become increasingly common thanks to global warming, experts say, largely due to mankind’s fossil fuel use.
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