A northern California man has been arrested and charged with pushing a flaming vehicle over an embankment and starting the Park Fire in Butte County, which by Friday evening had torched nearly 180,000 acres.
Ronnie Stout, 42, has so far been charged with one count of arson, but District Attorney Mike Ramsay said enhancements have yet to be determined, KTXL reported.
“We hope it will not be an enhancement of great bodily injury or death, but it is still early in this fire to make that determination,” Ramsay said.
Stout is accused of pushing his mother’s burning car into a gully in Bidwell Park shortly before 3 p.m. on Wednesday. The vehicle rolled about 60 feet to the bottom of the gully and burned completely, with the flames spreading to surrounding vegetation and then growing out of control.
Ramsay said Stout calmly left the area by blending in with other people as the fled the “rapidly evolving fire.”
The DA also said that Stout has two previous felony convictions, one for lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 and another for robbery with great bodily injury. He served time in state prison.
He also arrested on a DUI charge in 2020.
Evacuations have been ordered in Butte and Tehama Counties.
Butte County Fire Chief Garrett Sjolund said that an unspecified number of structure have been destroyed, and two minor injuries have been reported.
CalFire said late Friday that the blaze had scorched 178,000 acres and had no containment. Forty-five crews with more than 1,600 firefighters were battling the blaze
