Man accused of sparking massive California wildfire by pushing fiery car into gully; fire already burned 164,000 acres



A California man has been arrested in connection with the huge Park Fire that has ravaged the northern area of the Golden State. The suspect is accused of pushing a fiery car into a gully that sparked the massive wildfire that has already burned over 164,000 acres.

Ronnie Dean Stout II, 42, was arrested around 2 a.m. Thursday at a mobile home park in Chico, authorities said.

The Park Fire tripled in size on its second day.

Stout is being held without bail until his arraignment Monday.

Butte County District Attorney Michael L. Ramsey said in a statement that Stout likely will face an arson charge, although it's unclear how many counts or whether any enhancements will be added.

Stout has two previous strike felony convictions, according to prosecutors.

KOVR-TV reported that Stout was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 in Butte County in 2001. The following year, he was convicted in Kern County for robbery with great bodily injury and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

In California, individuals with two prior strikes — convictions of violent or serious felonies — receive a "significantly" longer prison sentence if convicted of a third felony.

Stout pushed a car that was on fire into a gully near the Alligator Hole in upper Bidwell Park shortly before 3 p.m. Wednesday, Ramsey stated.

The DA said the fiery car sparked the wildfire now known as the Park Fire.

"The car went down an embankment approximately 60 feet and burned completely, spreading flames that caused the Park Fire," Ramsey said.

"The male was then seen calmly leaving the area by blending in with the other citizens who were in the area and fleeing the rapidly evolving fire," Ramsey said.

The origin point of the Park Fire is about 90 miles north of Sacramento. The wildfire has devastated the counties of Butte and Tehama where evacuations were ordered. Roughly 4,000 residents in unincorporated areas of Butte County and 400 residents of Chico were ordered to evacuate, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said at a news conference Thursday.

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The Park Fire tripled in size on its second day and has scorched more than 164,000 acres — about 256 square miles.

In the most recent Cal Fire report, 134 structures have been destroyed by the fire. Just 3% of the fire has been contained as of Friday morning, Cal Fire said.

Over 1,600 firefighters, 142 fire engines, and six helicopters have been deployed to battle the Park Fire.

"Today the Park Fire burned very actively with hot, dry weather over the region," Cal Fire said.

Butte County Fire Chief Garrett Sjolund said, "The fire quickly began to outpace our resources because of the dry fuels, the hot weather, the low humidities, and the wind."

The fast-growing blaze is now California's largest wildfire this year, and the largest since 2021's Caldor Fire, KCRA-TV reported.

Also in California, the Lake Fire in Santa Barbara County — which started July 5 — has burned over 38,000 acres and is 90% contained, according to Cal Fire.

The Associated Press reported that a fire near the state line with Nevada displaced approximately 1,000 people after evacuations were ordered Monday.

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What really happened in Maui? BlazeTV exclusive documentary drops TODAY



We all want to know what caused the devastating wildfires in Maui, but we know better than to trust the mainstream media that has largely pointed to “climate change” as the culprit.

That’s why we sent our very own investigative team to the island of Maui to search for answers.

And we found them.

Today, “What Really Happened in Maui?” drops on BlazeTV+, but it’s only for subscribers.

If you haven’t already signed up for BlazeTV+, your membership will not only allow you to watch the Maui documentary, it will also give you access to future documentaries, investigative reporting, family entertainment, as well as our new columns in lifestyle, sports, and technology.

Join the BlazeTV family at https://subscribe.blazetv.com/

Use code BlazeTVPlus to get $36 off your subscription.


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FACT CHECK: No, Navy SEALs Did Not Discover 15 Missing Children In Maui

This claim stems from satire
FAIL: Biden Makes Maui Visit All About Him | 8/22/23

FAIL: Biden Makes Maui Visit All About Him | 8/22/23

Maui's wildfire death toll officially 114, but locals running out of body bags reckon it's closer to 500, with thousands still missing



The County of Maui and the Maui Police Department confirmed Sunday that at least 114 people were dead as a result of the Hawaii wildfires that torched thousands of acres and reduced much of the historic town of Lahaina to ash.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier indicated early last week that rescuers accompanied by scores of cadaver dogs were working their way through the aftermath, over 85% of which had been covered by Sunday, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

Locals, whose morgues have reportedly run out of body bags, indicated that the actual number of deaths is the neighborhood of 500.

Allisen Medina told the Daily Mail, "I know there are at least 480 dead here in Maui, and I don't understand why they're [the authorities] not saying that. Maybe it's to do with DNA or something."

Authorities are encouraging people to provide DNA samples to help identify victims, reported Axios.

The FBI announced Friday it would be opening a DNA matching site to speed up the process.

"I do know they ran out of body bags by the first or second night and had to ship some in from the mainland," added Medina.

Medina criticized the Biden administration's relief effort, saying, "100 percent not enough is being done, so people are doing it themselves. The government, relief organizations — they're not doing anything."

"We're only 100 miles from Oahu, which has several military bases. Why is the response so lacking? Why are they doing so little? Why is nothing else being done?" asked Medina, who has been traveling to and from Lahaina over the past two weeks, helping burned-out residents.

The 24-year-old also took aim at the apparent failure of some officials, particularly Herman Andaya, the administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency who resigned Thursday despite refusing to admit fault.

While she did not mention Andaya by name, Medina blasted his decision not to sound warning sirens.

A part-time morgue worker similarly suggested that around 480 people had already been confirmed dead, telling Southwest flight attendant Sarah Trost that authorities had only searched 13% of Lahaina as of last week, where he personally "found so many children, children and moms holding each other. Infants, toddlers, the unimaginable. Husbands and wives, whole entire [families] in a room just huddling together, burning to death."

The morgue worker further claimed, "It's all bones. ... They have no more room on the island in the morgue, so they're shipping in containers to hold those body bags."

Gov. Green told CBS News Sunday there were still an estimated 1,050 people unaccounted for, noting both that search and recovery efforts in the ruins of larger buildings could "take weeks" and that "the remains of those who died, in some cases, may be impossible to recover" on account of the high temperatures at which the fires burned.

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NBC News reported that an accurate count could take months or even years according to researchers and forensic anthropologists.

"The death toll number is always provisional, in a way," said Lynn Goldman, an epidemiologist and the dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. "I assume people won't stop trying to find remains and the work will take a very, very long time."

Goldman added, "It's going to be challenging to account for all the direct deaths, whether it was people who were burned or people who jumped into the ocean and drowned or people who died of smoke inhalation."

Although the official number is less than one-quarter of that counted by the morgue worker, Medina, and others, Pelletier underscored that it is already "unprecedented."

"No one has ever seen this that is alive today. Not this size, not this number, not this volume — and we're not done," said the Maui police chief.

While officials continue to tabulate how many souls perished in the blazes, some survivors are trying to establish precisely who or what set Maui up to burn.

Numerous lawsuits allege that Hawaiian Electric, which serves 95% of the state's 1.4 million residents, helped set the stage for the wildfires.

TheBlaze previously detailed a report claiming Hawaiian Electric had prioritized its shift to 100% renewable energy — as mandated by Democratic lawmakers — over the clearing of flammable vegetation and the maintenance of its power lines.

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Former US rep for Hawaii says THIS could’ve saved lives in Maui



The devastating wildfires in Maui that have left 111 dead and hundreds more missing are considered the worst natural disaster in the state in the last 100 years.

Naturally, when disaster strikes, people want answers.

Conspiracy theories surrounding the Maui fires have continued to rage, with many believing that the fires were part of a grand scheme to acquire incredibly lucrative land. The left is pushing climate change as the cause of the wildfires, while others cite Maui’s underdeveloped fire service or poor response times from government and other officials.

We all want to know what’s really going on.

Former U.S. representative for Hawaii's second district and current U.S. Army Reserve officer Tulsi Gabbard joins Glenn Beck to discuss the tragedy.

Glenn asks Gabbard's thoughts regarding the resignation of Herman Andaya, the head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, due to criticism regarding his decision not to activate the disaster sirens.

“I think he probably thought he was doing the right thing by not turning on the air siren because ... he said, ‘If I would have turned it on people would have gone to the top of the mountain because that's what they're trained to do, and they would have gone right into the fire.’ Do you believe that?” asks Glenn.

“You know what? I call bullsh** on that,” Gabbard says. “He's the Department of Emergency Management director. Why did it take ... eight days for him to show up in front of the media and answer questions? He should have been the first guy out there.”

“Number two, we have a highly sophisticated alarm system across the state of Hawaii because of our proximity to hurricanes and tsunamis and all sorts of different natural disasters,” she continues.

“We know that if it's a tsunami, we get days' warning,” she explains. And “these alarm systems are used in the case of any form of natural disaster. [So] a tsunami alert could have been ruled out immediately because they don't just show up out of nowhere.”

“That alarm sounding could have possibly prevented loss of life, so I don't buy that.”

To hear their full conversation, watch the clip below.


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Biden finally addresses the historic devastation in Maui but at times appears unable to recall the island's name: 'Not the one where you see on television all the time'



President Joe Biden, who has reportedly spent over a year of his presidency on vacation, was recently lambasted for idling on a beach in Delaware while historic wildfires raged in Maui, Hawaii, claiming the lives of at least 106 people and torching over 2,100 acres.

When Biden finally returned to his post, he prompted outrage again, declining to comment on the tragedy.

On Tuesday, the Democratic octogenarian broke his silence on Maui, but appeared at times unable to name the island on the minds and lips of many Americans, including the former Democratic state representative official who has called him out despite having previously campaigned for him.

Speaking to a crowd of roughly 150 workers and supporters at the Ingeteam Inc. electrical engineering factory in Milwaukee, Biden focused primarily on hyping his so-called "Bidenomics" plan, claiming that it was "working," notwithstanding rising inflation, dwindling hourly earnings, failing banks, runaway spending, and rising mortgage rates.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel indicated that the visit was of strategic importance, as Biden wanted to set the tone ahead of the GOP presidential primary debate in Milwaukee on Aug. 23.

When Biden came around to discussing the Hawaii wildfires, he prefaced his remarks with an apology for going over time with his speech.

With the aid of teleprompters, he initially invoked Maui by name, indicating that 500 federal personnel had been deployed to the island to "help communities and survivors get back on their feet." However, in the 44-minute speech, he would only speak the name "Maui" once more.

After remarking upon the damage done and the misery left in the wake of the fires, Biden indicated that he and Jill Biden would soon be traveling to Hawaii, then proceeded to detail the efforts of the Coast Guard and Navy to support search and rescue operations.

The Daily Mail reported that Biden appeared to struggle to name Maui, stating, "The Army helicopters helped fire suppression efforts on the Big Island because there's still some burning on the Big Island — not the one that, not the one where you see on television all the time."

Biden's seeming memory lapse regarding the American region burning under his watch does not appear to have prompted nearly as much outrage as his refusal to speak about the tragedy for four days or his offer of a one-time payment of $700 per household in emergency aid to victims of the wildfires, which Newsweek reported critics have set in contrast to the billions of dollars in aid sent to foreign nations.

The White House has intimated that its actions speak more loudly than the words Biden can recall, citing the provision of 50,000 meals, 75,000 liters of water, 5,000 cots, and 10,000 blankets by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to victims of the wildfires, along with the response efforts by the Coast Guard, the Navy's Third Fleet, and the Marines, reported NBC News.

While the Biden administration has taken action, residents on the "Big Island" have indicated that volunteers have provided for more support than the government, according to a New York Times report.

Concerning criticism of Biden's response to the tragedy, White House spokesman Andrew Bates stated, "We won't be lectured by Republican officials in Washington who are doubling denial of the climate crisis that is devastating red and blue states."

Various other Democrats have insinuated or claimed outright that the specter of anthropogenic climate change is responsible for the fires, whereas the Times has indicated the unchecked weeds and other highly flammable invasive plants that took over Hawaii's derelict farms predisposed the state to burn.

With the Wisconsin speech and double mention of Maui behind him, Biden is reportedly headed to Lake Tahoe for a week-long vacation.

President Biden vows Hawaii will have 'everything it needs' for tackling wildfiresyoutu.be

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Good Samaritan uses mixed martial arts to take down California arsonist who scorched acres with road flares, police say



A California man utilized mixed martial arts maneuvers to take down an arsonist who scorched several acres in the San Francisco Bay area, according to police.

On Saturday, a resident of Vallejo reportedly noticed a man lighting road flares in a field near his home. The flares caused a fire that scorched 15 acres until firefighters were able to quell the blaze.

The good Samaritan, Alex Bello, notified local police about the man who was allegedly setting fires near a residential area. Bello followed the suspect and asked the dispatcher whether he "would feel comfortable if I could take him down." The dispatcher allegedly gave Bello the approval to restrain the suspect.

The Vallejo Police Department noted, "The citizen followed the arsonist as he ran across the street and entered a black Tesla parked on the 900 block of Admiral Callaghan Lane. Before the arsonist could drive away, the brave citizen contacted the arsonist and removed him from the vehicle. The arsonist knew he was in trouble and quickly learned he was being detained by a trained mixed martial artist who introduced him to a double armbar."

The suspect allegedly retaliated and bit Bello. The man asked Bello to let him go, and he replied, "Dude, I'm not going to let you go. It's not my job. My job is to hold you down until the police get here."

"I had one hand on both of his, enough pressure for me to hold him down but not to hurt him. With all these things going on, I didn't want to get in any trouble," Bello said – making a reference to the situation of Daniel Penny, who was charged with homicide after allegedly putting a New York City subway passenger in a deadly chokehold.

Bello said, "When I felt like I had him secured, I used the other hand to pat him down, and that’s when I found a crack pipe on him."

Bello reportedly wrapped the suspect up like a "pretzel" until police arrived.

The purported arsonist was arrested by officers with the Vallejo Police Department. Police said the Tesla was stolen from Fremont, and there were more flares inside the vehicle.

Police said cameras caught the suspect setting fires.

The Vallejo Police Department stated, "Thank you to the vigilant community member that stepped into action and helped prevent an arsonist from destroying our community!"

Bello told Fox News, "It was not a bravery thing, it was more of a 'We're on our phones a lot, and we’re used to recording instead of acting upon,' and I was with my kids and the mother of my kids, and I talked to her and I told her I got to get involved. It was right behind my house, so it was something I had to do."

Good Samaritan uses martial arts to take down Bay Area arson suspect www.youtube.com

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California man arrested on suspicion of starting fire that destroyed nearly 200 buildings, forced 6,000 people to flee, burned 19,000 acres



A California man was arrested on Friday on suspicion of starting a forest fire that destroyed nearly 200 buildings, according to authorities. The suspect faces multiple felony charges.

Edward Fredrick Wackerman – a 71-year-old man from Mariposa, California – was arrested on suspicion of aggravated arson, arson that causes great bodily injury, and arson causing damage or destruction of inhabited structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, also known as Cal Fire.

The Mariposa County Sheriff's Office said in a statement: "Through an extensive investigation Wackerman, a local Mariposa resident, was identified as the suspect responsible for igniting the Oak Fiire in July 2022."

"The arrest and comprehensive investigation were a collaborative effort between multiple agencies consisting of CAL FIRE Law Enforcement, Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office, United States Forest Service (USFS) Law Enforcement, National Park Service Law Enforcement, Madera County District Attorney Investigators, Mariposa County District Attorney’s Office, California Department of Justice Attorney General’s Office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)," the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office stated.

\u201cCAL FIRE Law Enforcement Officers arrested 71-year-old Edward Fredrick Wackerman in connection to the destructive Oak Fire last year that burned over 19,000 acres. \nMore: https://t.co/hVyNW3lTBl\n(Photo: MCSO)\u201d
— FOX26 News (@FOX26 News) 1686978900

The Oak Fire started in the Sierra Nevada – a mountain range spanning 400 miles between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin.

"A combination of heat, low humidity and parched vegetation bedeviled firefighters battling the inferno that spread through the Sierra Nevada foothills, prompting Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency for Mariposa County," the Los Angeles Times said. "The blaze burned until early August before being fully contained with more than 2,000 firefighters battling the flames at its height."

The Associated Press reported, "The fire injured three firefighters, burned 19,244 acres (30 square miles, 77 square kilometers) of land, and destroyed 127 homes and 66 outbuildings, Cal Fire said."

"At its height, some 6,000 people were told to flee their homes after the blaze erupted near the community of Midpines," according to CBS News.

There were no fatalities in the wildfire.

A Mariposa resident told KFSN-TV, "Why? Why did he do it? Why did he feel he had to do that and destroy so many people's lives? It's sad. To deliberately start and set that fire is absolutely appalling, and what's worse is I think I've actually seen him around the town."

The Mariposa County district attorney said in a statement that an "investigation is under review by our office."

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Video: Officials investigating massive fire at Shell petrochemical plant in Texas that sent 9 contractors to the hospital



A massive fire broke out at the Shell petrochemical plant in Deer Park, Texas.

An industrial accident caused a huge fire to break out at the Shell Deer Park Chemical Plant around 3 p.m. on Friday. Large flames caused dark black smoke clouds to billow from the industrial plant that is 20 miles east of Houston. The fire raged overnight until it was extinguished on Saturday morning.

The blaze caused nine contractors to be evaluated at a local hospital. The workers at the plant have since been released from the hospital.

\u201cAn eyewitness captured massive smoke clouds from a fire at a Shell chemical plant in Deer Park, Texas https://t.co/kpJDcO7UoF\u201d
— Reuters (@Reuters) 1683379800

Local residents complained that there were loud noises coming from the burning chemical plant overnight.

John Hollywood told KPRC-TV, "We’ve been getting a high noise like a jet engine running from the flares. Probably at about 3 (a.m.) I called the Deer Park Police Department complaining about the noise."

Shell said the rumbling noise was emergency crews trying to put out the fire, which was "causing some flaring and noise." Shell said it was "working to minimize" the noise.

Shell officials said, "The fire started while the Olefins unit was undergoing routine maintenance. It ignited cracked heavy gas oil, cracked light oil, and gasoline."

Officials said they did not detect any dangerous chemicals, and there was no danger to the nearby community.

On Saturday, Shell's Deer Park Chemicals facility issued a statement on Twitter.

The fire at Shell’s Deer Park Chemicals facility has been extinguished. We continue to monitor the affected area for hot spots that could reignite. Air monitoring continues, and no harmful levels of chemicals have been detected. There is no danger to the nearby community. Current response activities being conducted at our facility are causing some flaring and noise, which we are working to minimize. Our immediate priorities remain the safety of people and the environment, and we continue to work in cooperation with local and state agencies.

However, Dr. Ramanan Krishnamoorti – chief energy officer at the University of Houston and professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, petroleum engineering, and chemistry – warned that it is too early to tell if it is safe or if the area dodged an industrial accident.

"The reason is, you've got incomplete burning of hydrocarbons," Krishnamoorti told KTRK-TV. "Things like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel, we call them hydrocarbons. That's crude oil. This is incomplete burning of it, which means some of those hydrocarbons are being released directly."

Krishnamoorti noted that the fire could have been much worse.

"This happened in the middle of the day. They were able to identify it as a heat exchange," Krishnamoorti said. "It wasn't a reaction, reactor, or in a distillation column. In many ways, this is the kind of thing we can handle quite well with few repercussions. I would say we got lucky with this particular fire."

The Shell website states that the chemical plant "manufactures base chemicals or raw material chemicals and sells them to other chemical companies that turn them into thousands of consumer products."

Shell lists the Deer Park facility's "key chemical plant business categories" as:

  • Light Olefins – ethylene, propylene and butylenes for plastics, pharmaceuticals, insecticides, antifreeze, detergents, etc
  • Heavy Olefins – isoprene, butadiene and piperylene for latex paints, adhesives, tapes, wire coating, synthetic rubbers, ink, etc.
  • Phenol – phenol and acetone for plastics, wood preservatives, dyes, antiseptic products, agricultural chemicals and other products.

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9 contractors released from hospital after Shell Chemical Plant fire in Deer Park www.youtube.com