CBS News
Park Fire in Northern California explodes overnight: “Hell on Earth”
A wildfire that started Wednesday afternoon near Chico, California, north of Sacramento, grew quickly to 6,465 acres by late night then exploded overnight to 45,549 acres, Cal Fire said. The Park Fire was 3% contained.
Authorities in Butte County and neighboring Tehama County issued evacuation orders and warnings, CBS News Sacramento reports, but there was no word on how many people were affected. Shelters were set up for people and for animals.
It wasn’t clear how many, if any structures were damaged or destroyed and there were no reports of injuries or deaths.
At one point, more than 200 firefighters were battling the blaze.
Fred Greaves / REUTERS
One woman who says on X that she’s a former candidate for Butte County Supervisor described the scene as “hell on Earth.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation. One TikTok user claimed she saw a man light a car on fire and send it down a hill, sparking the flames, but Chico police and Cal Fire told CBS News’s Patrick Torphy they’re are aware of arson rumors but couldn’t confirm anything.
“That is not anything that we are able to talk about at this point. I have no idea. I’ve just heard the rumors, not from any official sources,” Cal Fire spokesperson Rick Carhart remarked.
The evacuation order appeared to include Chico Regional Airport but Airport Manager Tom Bahr told Torphy, “The airport continues to operate and continues to provide services to combat the Park Fire.” It doesn’t have commercial flights.
Butte County’s recent wildfires
Butte County has had a very busy fire season this summer, CBS News Sacramento points out.
The Thomspon Fire in the Oroville area recently scorched more than 3,700 acres, forced tens of thousands of people from their homes, and destroyed dozens of structures, including houses.
The day after the Thompson Fire started, the Grubbs Fire just south of that in Palermo was much smaller but also forced evacuations.
In mid-July, the Railbridge Fire, just south of Palermo, burned 130 acres, forced evacuations, destroyed or damaged several structures and injured at least one person.
Back in June, the Apache Fire, which burned in the same general area near Oroville and Palermo, scorched nearly 700 acres and forced its own round of evacuations.
Nearly two weeks before the Apache Fire, the Junes Fire burned nearly 1,100 acres in Palermo and also forced people from their homes.
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CBS News
Mark Robinson, North Carolina GOP gubernatorial candidate, treated for burns, campaign says
Embattled Republican North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson — whose gubernatorial bid has been rattled by allegations that he previously posted racist and sexually explicit comments online — was hospitalized with burns Friday, his campaign said.
Mike Lonergan, a campaign spokesperson, told CBS News in a statement late Friday night that the 56-year-old Robinson was “currently being treated for burns following an incident at a campaign event in Mt. Airy.”
Lonergan added that Robinson was in “good spirits,” but did not provide any further details on his condition or the circumstances that prompted.
A source close to the campaign told CBS News that Robinson had been hospitalized.
This follows a bombshell CNN report last week which found that Robinson posted inappropriate comments to the message board of a pornographic website between 2008 and 2012, often under the name of “black NAZI.”
Since the report’s publication on Sept. 19, Robinson has seen several campaign staffers resign, including his campaign manager, general consultant and senior adviser, finance director, and deputy campaign manager. He has also appeared to lose support among the Republican leadership.
Robinson has not appeared in the two North Carolina rallies Trump has held since the CNN report. And when asked Thursday by reporters if he would pull his endorsement for Robinson, Trump responded, “I don’t know the situation.”
When asked Tuesday if Republicans should halt support for Robinson’s campaign, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell responded, “It won’t surprise to you know I’m happy that there’s not a Senate race in North Carolina.”
Robinson, however, has so far vowed to stay in the race.
“This is an election about policies, not personalities,” he wrote on social media Wednesday. “Now is not the time for intra-party squabbling and nonsense.”
Kaia Hubbard and
contributed to this report.
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