California wildfire now fourth largest in state history

4/8/2024 7:13

        More than 6,000 firefighters in California's Central Valley continued to battle the largest blaze in the U.S. on Saturday, which burned its way into the history books as the state's fourth largest conflagration on record.
        
        There was barely a taste of rain on Saturday from thunderstorms that brought wind and rainfalls of zero to a 10th of an inch of precipitation, forecasters said.
        The 100-degree heat along with winds up to 25 mph or more in some spots, offered little relief to the firefighters, trying to contain the Park Fire, scorching the wilderness terrain some 100 miles north of Sacramento, the state capital.
        
        Blazes from the Park Fire, started by an alleged arsonist who pushed a flaming car down a 60-foot gully near Chico, California, on July 24, has since burned more 400,000 acres (162,200 hectares) or more than 600 square miles, an area larger than the city of Los Angeles.