Man Arrested in California’s Biggest Wildfire This Year

(Bloomberg) -- Arson investigators in California arrested a man on suspicion of starting the state’s largest wildfire this year — a conflagration that has prompted evacuations and threatened the state’s power grid. The 42-year old suspect was seen pushing a burning car into a gully before the Park Fire erupted Wednesday, the Butte County district attorney’s office said in a statement. The fast-moving fire, located about 85 miles north of Sacramento, has already spread to more than 71,400 acres (28,900 hectares) and is only 3% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The blaze forced California’s main electrical grid operator to warn of potential power shortages Wednesday evening, saying the fire could disrupt imports into the state. The wildfire had disabled two high-voltage transmission lines in the area owned by PG&E Corp., according to a spokeswoman for the utility. The California Independent System Operator lifted the warning on Thursday and said the grid was stable, according to a spokeswoman.

The wildfire has created a “dangerous situation” as it spreads quickly through the rural area, Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles said in an X post. The incident is the latest major blaze in California as the state nears the heart of wildfire season. California has had two winters of plentiful rain and snow that encouraged vast amounts of vegetation to spring up, leaving plenty of fuel to ignite during the driest time of the year. 

(Updates with new details on fire and related arrest from first paragraph.)

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