Man found guilty of starting 2024 Park Fire, one of California’s largest wildfires on record

By Cecilio Padilla

A Butte County jury found Ronnie Dean Stout II guilty Friday of starting the Park Fire in Northern California, exactly two years after the massive wildfire ignited.

Prosecutors said the fire began shortly before 3 p.m. on July 24, 2024, when Stout pushed a burning vehicle down an embankment near Alligator Hole in Chico’s Upper Bidwell Park, igniting nearby vegetation.

Stout maintained that the vehicle caught fire accidentally after becoming stuck in grass and denied pushing it into the gully.

The fire ultimately burned 429,603 acres across Butte and Tehama counties, making it California’s fourth-largest wildfire on record by acreage.

Cal Fire’s numbers show that the Park Fire destroyed 713 structures and damaged 57 others, with hundreds of those structures being homes. It also forced widespread evacuations and temporarily closed Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Butte County courts confirmed that Stout had been found guilty of arson of forest land in the case on Friday. 

Prosecutors previously said Stout could face 25 years to life in prison if the conviction is treated as his third strike under California law.