Park Fire: Wildfire rages in Butte and Tehama County near Chico 7th largest wildfire in California history, CAL FIRE says

CHICO, California — California’s largest wildfire of the year has devastated an area larger than the city of Los Angeles, destroying dozens of buildings and forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes.

The Park Fire, which started Wednesday in Northern California’s Chico region, has forced about 4,000 people to evacuate in Butte County, where the state’s deadliest wildfire, the Camp Fire, killed more than 85 people and destroyed thousands of homes in 2018.

The Park Fire has been raging through parts of Butte and Tehama counties for the past few days.

RELATED: Arson suspect arrested for allegedly starting Park Fire near Chico by pushing burning car into ditch

According to CAL FIRE data from Saturday, it is now the seventh largest wildfire in California history.

The six largest wildfires in California are:

August Complex-1,032,648
Dixie-963,309
Mendocino complex-459,123
SCU Lightning Complex-396,625
Creek -379,895
LNU Lightning Complex-363,220

As of Saturday afternoon, the wildfire was 350,012 acres in size. And it is 0% contained.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for both counties on Friday. The state has also secured a federal grant to ensure there are enough resources to fight the blaze. The fire is moving at 4,000 to 5,000 acres per hour, Billy See, incident commander for Cal Fire, said Friday. With winds forecast to decrease overnight and higher humidity moving into the area, See believes firefighters have a better chance of slowing the blaze.

A 42-year-old man, identified as Ronnie Dean Stout II, was arrested on suspicion of pushing a burning car 60 feet into a gully, “causing flames to spread and ignite the Park Fire,” authorities said. The district attorney said the man “calmly left the area by blending in with other citizens who were in the area and fleeing the rapidly evolving fire.” Stout, who has not retained an attorney, will likely face arson charges, the district attorney’s office told CNN.

RELATED: Park fire: Bay Area sends resources to battle NorCal wildfire that has burned more than 348,000 acres

With suppression still around 0%, several fire departments in the Bay Area have sent aid north.

“Right now, you’ve got 100-degree temperatures in that area. Very low relative humidity. So very dry, hot. A lot of steep, rugged terrain. So accessing some of those areas is very difficult,” Santa Rosa Fire Department spokesman Will Powers said Friday.

KGO-TV staff contributed to this report