The Park Fire in California is out of control and spreading at the fastest rate ever. Cal-Fire says the cause is arson. Insurance costs will skyrocket, again.
Fire Tornado
Mind-Boggling Expansion
“The #ParkFire has grown to a mind-boggling 348,370 acres in less than 72 hours, becoming one of the fastest-growing wildfires in California history.”
“The fire has been spreading at an average pace of over 60 football fields per minute since it began.”
Fox News reports California’s Park Fire now among largest in state history as evacuation orders spread
The Park Fire burning in Northern California near Chico has now become one of the largest wildfires in state history as flames continue to grow, causing additional evacuations to now spread across four counties and taking aim at a community that is still reeling from a deadly wildfire just six years ago.
But some good news emerged for firefighters with the weather forecast as the weekend began without the triple-digit heat and Fire Weather Warnings of the past few days.
CAL Fire now estimates the Park Fire has burned nearly 350,000 acres as of midday Saturday, which ranks the fire as No. 7 on California’s list of most acreage burned by a fire. At least 134 homes and structures have been damaged or destroyed and another 4,200 are threatened, fire officials said. Over 50 community zones are now under evacuation warnings across 4 counties, spanning more than 4,400 people.
Official Cal Fire News
Here’s an Update from Cal-Fire.
- Name: Park Fire
- Start Date/Time2024-07-24
- Location: Upper Park Road in Upper Bidwell Park, East of Chico
- Cause: Arson
- Counties: Butte, Tehama
Evacuation Orders
Click on the link above for evacuation orders.
SFGate reports Entire town of Paradise under evacuation warning as California’s Park Fire rages
That is a warning, not an evacuation order.
Wikipedia notes “Paradise is a town in Butte County, California, United States, in the Sierra Nevada foothills above the northeastern Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 4,764, a decline of over 80% from the 26,218 residents recorded in the 2010 census.“
The reason for the decline: Paradise was wiped out in a 2018 fire.
Wow. Best Wishes to Paradise.
Cal-Fire Situation Summary
The Park Fire continued to burn aggressively due to steep terrain and winds. Extreme fire behavior has occurred due to the slope and winds aligning, causing significant growth.
Cooler weather and higher moisture in the air is expected for today in the region.
New evacuation orders and warnings were issued. Please use the evacuation maps to know your zone.
- In Butte County, 52,190 acres have burned.
- In Tehama County, 255,178 acres have burned.
The fire is burning in grass, brush, mixed timber, and dead vegetation.
Smoke Coverage
I woke up this morning to pink haze in St. George. I knew it was a big fire.
I thought it was unusual because wind was strongly out of the East which should have been a clearing breeze.
Cal-Fire Images
Cal-Fired links to a file of Park-Fire images. This is one that caught my eye.
This fire is extremely bad news for fire-weary California. The saddest part is Cal-Fire blames arson.
Regardless, auto and home insurance is California is going to skyrocket again.
Insurance Posts
January 13, 2024: Canceled! Are You at Risk of Losing Your Home Insurance?
Insurance costs are soaring and companies are canceling policies and upping rates. Don’t blame climate change. I address the real reasons for this mess.
February 17: 2024: Got the Insurance Blues? Auto and Home Insurance Costs are Soaring
April 19, 2024: Auto and Home, Insurance & Maintenance Costs Soaring and People Are Angry
State Farm to Cancel 72,000 California Policies
Finally, please consider Proposition 103 Backfires, State Farm to Cancel 72,000 California Policies
This may easily be the final straw. Expect more cancellations, possibly even insurance company total exits.
At a minimum insurance rates are going to skyrocket.
Addendum
Chico man arrested on suspicion of arson in Park Fire, California’s largest blaze this year
A Chico man was arrested on suspicion of starting the fast-growing Park Fire, which is now California’s largest wildfire this year after burning at least 124,000 acres, prosecutors said.
Just before 3 p.m. Wednesday, prosecutors said an unknown man was seen pushing a car on fire into a gully near Alligator Hole in upper Bidwell Park. The car then went down an approximate 60-foot embankment and burned, starting the Park Fire, prosecutors said.
The man was then seen calmly leaving the area and blending in with other people leaving the area, the Butte County District Attorney’s Office said.
Cal Fire arson investigators and the district attorney’s office were able to identify the suspect, obtain an arrest warrant and arrest the suspect early Thursday morning. He was then booked into jail without bail.
The suspect, who was later identified as 42-year-old Ronnie Dean Stout II of Chico, is scheduled for arraignment on Monday.
Addendum- Arson
https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/arrest-made-arson-suspect-park-fire-chico-california/
A Chico man was arrested on suspicion of starting the fast-growing Park Fire, which is now California’s largest wildfire this year after burning at least 124,000 acres, prosecutors said.
Just before 3 p.m. Wednesday, prosecutors said an unknown man was seen pushing a car on fire into a gully near Alligator Hole in upper Bidwell Park. The car then went down an approximate 60-foot embankment and burned, starting the Park Fire, prosecutors said.
The man was then seen calmly leaving the area and blending in with other people leaving the area, the Butte County District Attorney’s Office said.
Cal Fire arson investigators and the district attorney’s office were able to identify the suspect, obtain an arrest warrant and arrest the suspect early Thursday morning. He was then booked into jail without bail.
The suspect, who was later identified as 42-year-old Ronnie Dean Stout II of Chico, is scheduled for arraignment on Monday.
I wonder if he was trying to start the fire or was involved in insurance fraud where people pay to have their car ‘disappear’.
Arsonists should get the death sentence. They are the scum of the earth.
burn baby burn newsom infernal
Oregon has been running the hobos out of town, and they are moving to the woods. California’s getting started, so I would imagine the same thing will. happen.
We’ve upgraded from open air urban insane asylums to woodland ones. There will be more of this.
That’s roughly 80 acres or minute. Every year we have grass fires from people trying to burn off fields and it’s too windy and gets away. We had 200 acres behind us that went up fast because the guy next to it burned off his pasture, it spread thru the woods, hit the 200 acres and it had just been fertilized. It came within 100ft of our house. The fire jumped a gravel road, started another farm on fire and sent a newer juan deere tractor up in flames. So, I seen how bad this was and it’s nothing compared to this CA fire so I can only imagine.
I’m beginning to wonder, are these incidents just another form of “A Money Grab”? There are many questions unanswered to my satisfaction.
1. Can I please see a “Detailed Item List” of WHAT was purchased, and WHY? Not a phony BS list, but Receipts Included, Purchased by Whom and When? Detailed!!
2. Why is the Penalty so light, and Who Pays for this law breaking maneuver, if the perpetrator can’t? Add time in jail for the lost revenue? 1 Extra Day for every $1,000.00 in damages?
3. When are they going to start using the money placed aside (or is it gone, spent, or missing?) for clearing and cleaning up the Forrest, so this doesn’t cause so much damage?
4. Do they have classes in Middle And/or H.S. In CA. To teach the people who live there, what Not To Do?
5. What is the total CA. Has paid over just the last 10 Years on fired? What % was covered by the Perpetrator’s? State? Fire Fund? CA. Taxpayers? Other States Taxpayers. I bet we all know who paid the most…
Well if you see the land turn into some sort of mineral mine or something your suspicions might be correct or maybe even you’re current ones could be. So much fruad going on you always have to question everything.
Interesting article regarding megafires: https://www.propublica.org/article/they-know-how-to-prevent-megafires-why-wont-anybody-listen
I sold my properties in East Hampton NY and moved to Marmaris Turkey on the coast after marrying a lovely sweet, feminine Turkish girl Built 3 houses with a pool and bought an apt in Istanbul Best decision I ever made No homeowners insurance here and I run an Airbnb Car insurance is 400 USD annually Also have a rental apt in Warsaw rented presently for 1800USD to an Italian engineer You can expatriate thrive and find happiness
Why are you even getting downvoted on this comment. Your were pro-active and are benefitting from your decisions. I wrote a thesis paper in 1991 during my Senior year in college that was titled “The USA is going to become the NY City of the world”. Without going into detail about the entire thesis, (which would take up this entire website) the title speaks for itself. It’s actually happening in real-time and if I were going to write another thesis paper today it would be titled “A Mass Exodus of the USA is about to begin”. Do I even need to explain why?
I see a lot of people blaming California for wildfires even though these wildfires also occur in many other western states and Canada. The federal government owns 47.7% of California and California has no control over the management and fire response in these areas. I don’t see everyone blaming Florida or Texas for hurricanes or flooding. Some also blame the lack of harvesting of the forest for the intense fires although old growth forests are less susceptible to wildfire than second growth forests. It is usually the undergrowth and brush that is a big problem in healthy forests. Due to long term drought a lot of trees have been killed by pine beetles which does change the equation somewhat. It is also true that extreme fire suppression has allowed large buildup of brush, smaller trees, etc. as fuel. A lot of people are jumping to conclusions but less have much knowledge of facts.
We’ve decided it’s morally superior to burn wood in summer wildfires rather than harvest. If we won’t manage forests, mother nature or arsonists do it for us. There’s also the root cause effects of the 1995 Wildfire Management Policy, aka “Let it Burn”. Lightning strikes, then the fire bosses draw a box boundary around the fire, letting it burn for “land management purposes”. Jackson County, OR, where I live, changed this program through coordination with the federal managers. No prescribed fire is permitted during fire season. We get a lightning strike, the rule is full suppression. Prescribed fire only allowed in the spring, fall, and winter outside of fire season.
Typical California
No explanation for why it’s considered arson
Set a car on fire and pushed it into the ravine. Anther California dirtbag.
Eventually nature (even with arsonists’ help sometimes) will fix all of man’s fire suppression mistakes and things will be calmer on the wildfire front.
Chico wildfire update, fire maps start around the 5 minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVJUyogLU1c&t=2279s
Living in the Ohio Valley region, which can flood but isn’t prone to disasterous yearly floods, and my homeowners has already gone up 50% last year. We didn’t have any claims against us, either. How much more can they bleed homeowners before it’s unfeasible to keep it?!
You have to pay for everyone elses claims. Its shared risk.
And with larger claims every year, your payments will keep going up. There is no end to this. Insurers are in this to make money. And when they can’t make money, they will stop insuring.
As long as home prices go up, insurance prices will go up.
Yep. And as long as we have more and more claims on those higher priced homes: double whammy.
No, it’s not the market price of the house that pushes insurance costs up. It’s the rebuild/repair cost that matter.
Agree along with fraudulent claims and attorneys
Not here in Turkey My house has quadrupled since 2019 and I pay only 200 USD for mandatory earthquake insurance Otherwise fully self insured with Gold bullion
I lived in Sag Harbor NY until 2015 that is and they doubled mine in one swoop NO claims in 35 years of homeownership Go figure I’m OUT of the madhouse now
SB332 is a Godsend for California in response to neglectful forest management practices that had in previous times be codified into state law
Senate Bill No. 332
CHAPTER 600
An act to add Section 3333.8 to the Civil Code, relating to civil liability.
[ Approved by Governor October 06, 2021. Filed with Secretary of State October 06, 2021. ]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST
SB 332, Dodd. Civil liability: prescribed burning operations: gross negligence.
This bill would provide that no person shall be liable for any fire suppression or other costs otherwise recoverable for a prescribed burn if specified conditions are met, including, among others, that the burn be for the purpose of wildland fire hazard reduction, ecological maintenance and restoration, cultural burning, silviculture, or agriculture, and that, when required, a certified burn boss review and approve a written prescription for the burn. The bill would provide that any person whose conduct constitutes gross negligence shall not be entitled to immunity from fire suppression or other costs otherwise recoverable, as specified. The bill would define terms for its purposes.
Even though I was super careful, and nothing escaped my control, I was always very nervous about liability when doing spring time control burning on my Timber Lands before things got hot and dry. Except for cases of gross negligence, suppression costs are no longer charged to the person doing the control burn.
Indigenous people make small fire and stand close. Pale face make big fire and stand far away.
This ridiculous push of the “Dances With Wolves We BURNED THE LANDSCAPE” indigenous nonsense must end. You’re correct that the tribes didn’t set fires to catastrophically burn down their happy hunting grounds. A pox on the professional arsonists – aka the forest “collaboratives” who make their living by burning.
One need only take a look at fire history maps, ariel photos of patchwork clear cut practices, and the local news to make a determination on modern forest managements efficacy vs indigenous success. No one living in forest communities wants to bite the hand that feeds them, but the truth is City States across America are plundering the forests at the futures expense. People in NY or DC working in an office building who have never seen a tree are determining outcomes of Mountain communities with the stroke of a pen. Southern Oregon burned pretty hard a year or two ago, and it wasn’t because of climate change.
Don’t expect an honest debate on regime media about forest management, or the economic costs of ever greater numbers of people moving into areas prone to constant wildfires.
I’m interested in that debate. Go ahead. You start. Outline your plan for better forest management. What, where, how and who will pay. Then I will respond and debate you.
I’ll give it a whirl. What did forests do before mankind came around? They managed themselves of course. Forests were around for millions of years before mankind so nature clearly knows how to manage itself. There have always been wildfires and there always will be.
With that said, I suggest we leave them (forests) alone. If you choose to live in an area that is prone to wild fires you assume the risk and the associated costs of managing that risk. I feel the same way about people who move to coastal areas that are prone to hurricanes. Nature will always win in the end. Nothing in life is risk free including being alive. Plan accordingly.
Thanks for the comment!
So no plan to manage forests at all. Let nature self-manage. Interesting. Sounds libertarian.
Does that also mean that we shouldn’t bother fighting the fires that happen. Just let them do what they want?
If you reread my comment you will see that I said that those that choose to live in such places can manage thier own risk by themselves or through an intermediary like local govenrment or, more preferably, an insurer. Just like they should do on the coasts where hurricanes are an issues. If the locals wish to pay for special forest fire suppresion teams then go for it. If the local fire department is tasked with putting out the fire then that’s thier business. If not, then that’s also thier business. The world is an imperfect place. Disasters happen all the time. Some places have them regularly. The cost associated with managing these kind of risks is quite high. Which is why insurers are jumping ship and rates are skyrocketing. The cost of continuingly removing tinder from forests is nuts to me. It’s like the beach rebuilds they do all the time on the outerbanks to save houses from falling into the sea (they’ve recently given up on some of these efforts and homes have be left collapse into the sea). Like I said in my initial reply above, nature will always win.
While my personal philosophy may may have some Libertarian leanings that by no means that I’m a Libertarian. I have a strong suspicion and a general dislike for groups and labeling. I’m a one man show. I almost never vote, and when I do it’s only in state and local races. I don’t claim an affiliation with any bullshit political party. Libertarian or otherwise.
You sound a lot like me. I’m liking you more as I learn more about you.
There’s abundant evidence that Native American tribes managed North and South American forests and grasslands with seasonal burns for millennia before Columbus.
I find it quite interesting that we can’t seem to figure out how to do better than they did…
Forests manage themselves. Just like they did before man arrived.
Nomadic vs permanent settlement. Once a community puts down stakes (so to speak) then they are a fixed target.
I doubt any tepees were financed for 30 years either.
Finally somone figures it out….
Who said they did it better? What Millenia of controlled burns did was to create a disclimax environment. Same thing happened here in Australia where the area of forests and woodlands are growing and more than has existed for many thousands of years. Though the vegetation is recovering the thousands of species of native wildlife that were driven to extinction by those native tribes will never be seen again.
Um, trim the underbrush, have clearcuts under high voltage power lines like we do where I live in the Pacific NW, and have prescribed burns. You must be a citidiot. If this site allowed it, I could post pictures of how it is done. We live a half-mile from a high voltage line, and there is a 100-yard clearcut underneath. We don’t have fires here because there are 100,000 acres of private forest in my county, and they manage it.
The rainbow was a sign from God which promised never again to rid the world of sin by flood. Fire on the other hand …
If you are going to live in fire country, you need to live in a cave that offers protection.
I would like to see your list of which areas are fire country. Then I will know where not to live in the future.
There is a map of fire zones, flood zone and hurricane zones in this post.
I am out of all of those. St George UT
I am not in a mosquito zone or an earthquake zone or an avalanche zone either.
Too hot in the summers for me but (over 100 in the afternoon) but up till 10:00AM pleasant. ~80. Can golf in January most days.
Also can get to 70 degree temps when it is 106 here in little over an hour.
Summers aren’t all bad. Monsoons in August bring rainbows.
But very expensive to buy here.
Nice! Thanks Mish!
Why? What is your point? It’s obvious in a world growing hotter each year – wherever there is dried vegetation that might catch on fire and be difficult to put out due to location.
We lived in a small Old Lumber Mill town named Shingletown. Back about 17 years ago, we looked out of our front Window and I saw what looked like Burning Roofing Material float into our Front Lawn. Then, instantaneously, we got the call: EVACUATION ORDERS.
We had already loaded up my Cargo Trailer with my Bikes, a Motorcycle and our paintings and a file Cabinet. Our Marathon Bus was up there and I had my tow vehicle attached by hitch. My wife pulled the Trailer with the car.
The rest was left behind as we pulled out. We escaped to an Elks Lodge RV park in Redding, Ca. The fire missed us in the next few days.
Two years later, we had sold our home furnished and never looked back. The people we sold it to are NOW EVACUATED real time with this Park Fire.
Those wildfires happened year after year. We got out luckily and that fine old Couple may lose our old house now and we feel for them.
All those clandestine marijuana field going up in smoke that drifts into the cities.
Now that might just explain California in a nutshell
Years of forest mismanagement has left California in a situation that one spark can destroy a half million acres. Much of the Private Timber east of Chico Ca. is clear cut in checkerboard fashion. The rest is higher density spacing with lower trunk diameter trees. It is a tinderbox that all the fire fighting resources in the Western States can not stop once it is going. This is a far cry from the fire resilient Virgin Forests that had less brush, huge diameter trunks with high crowns, and reasonable density spacing.
Natural lightning fires and control burns by the Native Americans cultivated a more fire proof forest ecology by burning the underbrush and saving the shade canopy of the trees. The Native Americans were stewards of nature living in symbiosis with it. This in contrast to a natural resource extraction culture.
The courts will decide whether this was arson or negligence, but the degree of damage is decided not by climate change but by inappropriate forest stewardship models.
Too bad they killed off the megafauna before becoming “stewards of nature”.
Then they should hire all those “stewards of the land” to do forest management. Problem is; in the past, “some” of them are the ones starting fires, to get work.
I wonder how a 1906 style San Francisco earthquake would be covered by the government? Private insurance won’t touch earthquakes.
This situation is very sad for all people affected by the enourmous fire season out west this year.
The solution was simple for SF in 1906. You cut down half of the Redwood forests to build SF originally, and then you cut the remaining Redwood forests to build it a second time after the 1906 earthquake fire.
Alleged arsonist is twice convicted felon. Sounds like he was locked-up from 2001-2021. Always wonder how many pleas to misdemeanor along with the felonies (probably also pleas)…
More:
https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/arrest-made-arson-suspect-park-fire-chico-california/
They should have harvested his organs.
Who let him out and why?
Hey it’s California that’s why
Here we see the impact of “climate change” and this is NOT caused by humans.
Partially true. But you will never convince the cult morons that populate this site of that.
Engineered climate change
If Governor Nusome won’t harvest the trees nature will.
Yes. Maybe we need to simply get rid of all trees before they burn down; problem solved. /s
Relax! The arsonists think they are saving the planet, just like the train derailers in the PNW.
A possibility. But probably not. Burning down forests adds more co2 to the atmosphere. And the loss of trees reduces the amount of co2 that can be removed from the atmosphere. So arson isn’t saving anything; it only makes the problem worse.
I’m sorry for those affected
Not just California.
I see some of western Canada is on fire; again. Tourist town of Jasper Alberta 1/3 gone.
Not arson though. Lightning strikes. Hundreds of them.
Add lightning strikes to tinder dry conditions caused by drought. Then add in high winds. Presto! Fast moving Wildfires. Costing the economy a lot. Insurance rates keep going up. If you can get insurance at all.
Some oil production is being affected; but not too much yet.
Western Canada has the same problem as California. They don’t do proper forest management
https://canoe.com/news/local-news/primed-to-burn-former-parks-canada-forestry-scientist-fears-the-worst-for-banff/wcm/6a8720a0-ada4-4bf3-aa4b-57c30f443d3c
The Native Indians did controlled burns for thousands of years to manage things. But the new green crazies don’t want to do that anymore.
Yes. Jasper and other communities in Canada and the US should be better protected from fires. Who exactly should be doing that and who should be paying the bill? The cities? The state or province? The feds?
The 2023 Canadian forest fires burned 40 million acres; most of which was untouched land. Are you trying to tell me that natives used to do control burns on that much land? Impossible.
“Are you trying to tell me that natives used to do control burns on that much land? Impossible.”
Why would they bother? Housing and work which could both be cheaply and easily moved away from immediate fire zones, very neatly sidestepped the whole “problem”: “Nature” got to rejuvenate itself undisturbed; without causing more than a slight inconvenience to people.
Truth be told: It’s not really all that different today: Just grab your stuff and bolt.
All that stuff is cheaply replaceable anyway. Or would be, sans government bans, restrictions and meddling. Ergo: The latter is the real problem. Not that some entirely predictable fire does what fires have always done.
Just grab your stuff and bolt. Easy.
The “real problem” is when there is nothing left to go back to.
There is still plenty unburned square footage left in the US. It’s not as if the entire country burns down every season. Heck, there’s even spots in CA which won’t burn until at least next season.
Obviously they did not. But they also didn’t have a population and cities anywhere near the sizes that we have today. So they did smaller burns around the towns they did have.
The article also mentions that an invasive species, the Asian Bark Beetle is responsible for killing tens of millions of trees which also was not a problem for the Native Indians.
It isn’t just about cities and towns. Fires burned 40 million acres in Canada last year. The smoke from
all those fires impacted parts of the US for weeks.
Regarding cities and towns: yes, more should be done. You didn’t say who should be responsible for this.
Alberta is a very conservative, right wing province. They don’t seem to be handling this any better than left wing Califormia.
Clearly they are not. Though my understanding is that the province can only do what the Federal government allows. Unlike the US, most of the non-private lands belongs to the ‘crown’ which means federally owned. Jasper Park is a Federal park which means its under Federal control as far as burns go. Gotta get rid of Trudeau and his ilk.
These things should be done at the State/Provincial level as far as who pays and does them. Given the costs of these fires, it’s got to be cheaper to do controlled burns because those can be done in winter/rainy seasons to lessen chance of out of control fire. It’s not that much money compared to what it costs when these fires happen.
I think green crazies have been wanting control burns for years, but fire prevention takes second fiddle to fire suppression and is not budgeted in. There is no money in fire suppression.
Same with hardening infrastructure. There’s no money in it. Which is why many in Houston went so long without power recently. It doesn’t matter how many outages happen. The power companies will never spend the money needed to prevent these outages. There isn’t any profit in it.
Is this just mindless down voting of a PD post? It is a money/profit-losing proposition so it doesn’t happen.
Bullshit. The greenies have been against the basics of forest management for more than 30 years, including understory thinning including raking, and prescribed burns. You know nothing.
I will know nothing, and I will be happy.
You meant no money in fire prevention, right? There are a lot of resources deployed after the blazes start so someone’s earning then.
Yeah thanks, that is what I meant to say.
The truth is, there is no money in fire prevention. There is tons of money to be made in fire suppression
You dnt know WTF you are taking about, but keep right on lying. You know you will. Hint: There was no drought this year, moron.
Hint: I guess you can’t read then. Alberta is having a very bad drought.
https://nationalpost.com/feature/alberta-drought-worse-than-the-1920s-1930s
Mediterranean climates such as Northern California do not need drought to be bone dry in summer. Any substantial rain occures from November to April. The rest of the year sees little to no rain.