California’s Park Fire; Arson Suspect Arrested for Allegedly Rolling Flaming Car Into Ditch, DA Says
A man was caught by Cal Fire for arson because they think he started the Park Fire, which is California’s biggest wildfire of the year. The county’s district attorney, Mike Ramsey, said in a news statement that a 42-year-old man from Chico was seen pushing a burning car into a ditch near Alligator Hole in Upper Bidwell Park on Wednesday just before 3 p.m.
The car is said to have rolled down a slope about 60 feet, where it “burned completely” and spread into the Park Fire, which by Thursday evening had grown to 120,000 acres (188 square miles). The man, who was named Ronnie Stout Thursday afternoon, was then seen leaving the area by mixing in with people who were running away from the fire.
Cal Fire’s arson unit secured the area to look for clues about the man’s identity. Ramsey said in a news release that the man was “eventually identified.”
There was no bail set for Stout early Thursday morning, and he was taken at about 2 a.m. at his home in a Chico mobile home park, Ramsey said in a live video news conference on Cal Fire’s Facebook page.
He was arrested by agents from the District Attorney’s Office and Cal Fire after they “demanded by loudspeakers” that Stout leave the house with his hands up. He was arrested and taken to the Butte County Jail, where he will stay until Monday when he is charged with setting a fire.
Ramsey says that someone in the area saw Stout acting “a little strangely.” The witness said that he saw a fire started under Stout’s car and that Stout “did nothing but watch the fire.” Ramsey said the person saw Stout get into the car, do something inside, get out of the car, and then push it into the ditch.
On Wednesday, Elizabeth Fox posted a video to TikTok in which she says she saw the man “blow up his car, then put it in neutral, roll it down the hill, and take off like nothing happened.”
Fox said in the video that she took a picture of the man, who was later identified as Stout, leaving the scene of the crime and told police what she saw. The district attorney said that the car in question was owned by Stout’s mother.
Ramsey says that Stout has been convicted of several crimes in the past. In 2001, he was found guilty in Butte County of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old, and in 2003, he was found guilty in Kern County of robbery with great bodily harm. According to California’s Megan’s Law records, he is a known sex offender. In 2020, Stout was also caught with a DUI.
The video had more than 708,000 views and almost 80,000 likes as of Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Anyone with knowledge or who was in the Alligator Hole area on Wednesday between noon and 3 p.m. is asked to call 530-538-7888 and talk to Cal Fire investigations.