โPHOTOS: I donโt think anyone could have predicted that it would be the fourth largest fire wildland fire in the history of California that day,” said Cal Fire Butte County Public Information Officer Dan Collins. The Park Fire, the largest wildfire of the 2024 fire season, which would eventually be recorded as the fourth-largest in California’s history, erupted in Chico’s Upper Bidwell Park on July 24, 2024.
Cal Fire Butte County officials sat down with KRCR to recall the day they received the call that marked the beginning of the intense 64-day firefighting operations across Butte and Tehama counties. โFrom when the first dispatch came through to us and getting there, itโs one of those fires you can just kind of tell that it wasnโt going to stay necessarily small and under the 10 acres or so we try to keep them to,” said Jeff Edson, Battalion Chief of the Magalia Fire Center. Investigators connected the source of the fire to Ronnie Dean Stout II, who is accused of pushing a burning vehicle down a steep embankment in the park. As the flames erupted, he allegedly blended in with the panicked crowd fleeing the scene.
This incident occurred on a red flag day, characterized by high winds and low humidity, which made the conditions easier for rapid fire spread. Officials estimate that within the initial 12-hour period, the fire expanded an average of 5,000 acres an hour. โItโs not like a regular grass fire that you can just mobile attack it and drive along the edge of the fire. There were too many aspects of the terrain that you werenโt basically able to drive on. It made it difficult to get resources in place and actually get work done,” Edson described.
