A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
A wildfire in Northern California is now the state's largest this year. The Park Fire has burned 125,000 acres, and more than 4,000 people have been evacuated. Gusty winds and low humidity could make the fire worse. From North State Public Radio in Chico, here's Alec Stutson.
ALEC STUTSON, BYLINE: The fire started Wednesday afternoon in Bidwell Park, a huge park with hiking trails and swimming holes bordering the city of Chico. It spread exponentially overnight due to windy conditions, low humidity and an abundance of dry plant matter, according to Cal Fire. Dan Collins, fire captain for Cal Fire, says it's also a difficult place to access.
DAN COLLINS: There's only a couple ways to get to the fire, and they have long travel times, so just getting resources to the fire to suppress it was challenging.
STUTSON: The fire has threatened several communities in Butte and Tehama counties.
COLLINS: Some of the communities that are up here are kind of rural, smaller communities, a lot of inaccessible terrain.
STUTSON: Residents of a city-sanctioned homeless encampment in Chico watched the fire spread on Wednesday night in the hills northeast of their camp. Amanda Skelton says she could barely sleep.
AMANDA SKELTON: See, and I was freaking out. Like, I had to pray and talk to the angels to protect us from what's going on.
STUTSON: The camp is extremely close to the border of an area that was under mandatory evacuation orders on Thursday. Skelton says they've been discussing where they'll go if the fire gets closer.
SKELTON: We're going to go straight into downtown, way out that way, just to get as far as we can away from it.
STUTSON: Earlier on Thursday, officials announced that they'd arrested a man on suspicion of starting the fire. During a press conference Thursday afternoon, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey named the suspect. NPR is not naming him because, according to Ramsey, he has not yet been charged with a crime. Ramsey said they made the arrest on the evidence of a witness, who alleged she saw the suspect push a flaming vehicle down a hill in Bidwell Park.
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MIKE RAMSEY: Down into a gully, where the fire, the beginnings of the Park Fire, flared up, and we are here today because of that.
STUTSON: Ramsey told NSPR the suspect would be arraigned on Monday.
For NPR News, I'm Alec Stutson in Chico. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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