California wildfire growing 'rapidly' as homes evacuated

California's largest wildfire this year has exploded in size, threatening thousands of homes.

The Park Fire near Chico has already burned around 300,000 acres of land, making it the eighth largest wildfire in the state's history.

The fire started on Wednesday and is moving quickly north and east, with evacuations ordered in four counties.

“There’s a tremendous amount of fuel out there and it’s going to continue with this rapid pace," said incident commander Billy See.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of starting the fire by pushing a burning car into a gully in Chico.

Carli Parker, from Chico, is one of hundreds who fled their homes as the Park Fire pushed close.

Parker decided to leave her Forest Ranch residence with her family when the fire began burning across the street.

She has previously been forced out of two homes by fire, and she said she had little hope that her residence would remain unscathed.

She said: “I think I felt like I was in danger because the police had come to our house because we had signed up for early evacuation warnings, and they were running to their vehicle after telling us that we need to self-evacuate and they wouldn’t come back.”

More than 110 active fires covering 2,800 square miles (7,250 square kilometres) were burning in the US on Friday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Some were caused by the weather, with climate change increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the region endures record heat and bone-dry conditions.

Ronnie Dean Stout, 42, of Chico, was arrested on Thursday in connection with the Park Fire blaze and held without bail pending a Monday arraignment, officials said.

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