Qualla: Park Fire

Park Fire: Introduction

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0. At 2:44 p.m. on July 24, 2024, two 911 callers reported a car ablaze in Upper Bidwell Park near Chico. Within twelve hours, the fire was consuming 2,500 acres per hour, racing north through the Ishi Wilderness toward Lassen National Forest. By the time firefighters contained the Park Fire on September 26, it had burned over 429,000 acres, becoming the fourth largest wildfire in California history, the second largest single-ignition fire, and the largest ever caused by arson. The cost of suppression alone reached $351 million.

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Image: Frank Schulenburg | CC BY-SA 4.0

Park Fire: A Landscape Primed to Burn

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CAL FIRE_Official, Public domain. July 2024 was California's hottest month ever recorded. A nearly two-week heatwave baked the interior of the state, with Chico exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit on most days. Evaporative demand, the atmosphere's capability to draw water from vegetation, spiked across the Central V...

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Image: CAL FIRE_Official | Public domain

Park Fire: How It Started

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0. Shortly before 3:00 p.m. on July 24, 42-year-old Chico resident Ronnie Dean Stout II drove his mother's 2007 Toyota Yaris into Upper Bidwell Park. The car went over a berm and became stuck in dry grass. When Stout revved the engine to free the vehicle, the heat from the catalytic...

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Image: Frank Schulenburg | CC BY-SA 4.0

Park Fire: The Explosive Run

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wind-driven flames spread north at terrifying speed, parallel to California State Route 99. Air tankers could not make water drops during the initial fight because high-voltage power lines crisscrossed the fire's path. By 10:15 p.m. on the first day, the fire had consumed over 13...

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Image: Frank Schulenburg | CC BY-SA 4.0

Park Fire: The Human Cost

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit File:2024 Park Fire map.png: Penitentes (talk · contribs) Conversion to gif: Hike395, CC BY 4.0. The fire destroyed 709 structures and damaged 54 others. The McCarthy Point Lookout, a fire lookout post built in 1936 overlooking Mill Creek Canyon, was lost. Pacific Gas & Electric lost 450 power poles, mostly near Cohasset and Forest Ranch, leaving 3,000 customers without elec...

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Image: File:2024 Park Fire map.png: Penitentes (talk · contribs) Conversion to gif: Hike395 | CC BY 4.0

Park Fire: The Ecological Aftermath

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0. Environmental scientists fear lasting damage to endangered spring-run Chinook salmon in Tehama County's Mill Creek and Deer Creek watersheds. Fire retardant used in suppression is toxic to fish, and post-fire rains can wash sediment and debris into streams, causing algal blooms a...

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Image: Frank Schulenburg | CC BY-SA 4.0