The Park Fire has now burned more than 373-thousand acres of land and is 14% contained. The fire, which is in its seventh day, is now the sixth-largest wildfire in California’s history. It has destroyed 165 structures and damaged another 15. That includes at least 100 homes that are destroyed. Most of the burning and damage is in Tehama County, though the fire is also in Butte, Plumas and Shasta Counties. Some evacuation orders in Butte County, where the fire started, were downgraded to warnings on Monday. The Park Fire is the largest wildfire in California this year, at nearly ten times the size of the second-largest.
The man accused of starting the biggest fire in the state and nation claims it was an accident. Ronnie Stout was due to be arraigned yesterday but that got pushed to Thursday. The DA charged him with arson and he’s explained his side of the story. The 42-year-old says he was having car trouble and it caught fire. Witnesses report seeing him push the car into a ravine in Chico. Those flames spread quickly to become the massive Park Fire. The DA says Stout was drunk when he was arrested 12 hours later, while on probation for a DUI.
California’s COVID crisis is far from over. Cases are surging to levels last seen in the summer of 2022 due to a collection of very contagious strains. The rate of positive tests is almost 14-percent, compared to a peak of 16-percent two years ago. These are mostly coming from doctor’s offices and clinics but could be much higher since many test at home. State officials urge anyone with cough and cold symptoms to test for COVID.
A study, conducted in California, finds that exposure to wildfire smoke leads to a higher risk of someone being diagnosed with dementia. The study was released Monday, at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. Researchers believe toxic chemicals found in wildfire smoke and fine particulate matter, also called PM2.5, are damaging to the brain. The study says the risk of dementia diagnosis from wildfire smoke is higher than from exposure to other sources of air pollution that also contain PM2.5. During a period of ten years, researchers looked at the health records of more than 1.2 million socioeconomically diverse Kaiser Permanente members. All of them were at least 60 years old with no prior diagnosis of dementia.
After a 17-day run, the 2024 California State Fair is in the books. Here are some of the final numbers. About 28-thousand corn dogs were consumed, working out to more than 16 hundred per day. More than 40 thousand lemons were used to make lemonade and people ate 14,400 funnel cakes, 13,000 turkey legs and 10,000 deep-friend Oreos. Attendance was up by more than 10% from last year, with nearly 650,000 people showing up, and food and beverage sales topped ten-million dollars. On its closing weekend, the carnival also took in a single-day record of 634-thousand-dollars. All of this is despite eleven days of triple-digit heat.
One of Sonoma County’s high-profile chefs and restaurateurs is now facing a class-action lawsuit. An employee, Maria Ayala, is suing Octavio Diaz, claiming wage theft and several other workplace violations at his restaurants. Two weeks ago, Diaz and one of his restaurants, Agave Healdsburg, reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor after an investigation found Diaz paid one employee a rate below minimum wage and did not pay three employees overtime. Diaz was ordered to pay nearly 83-thousand-dollars in back wages, damages and penalties. Ayala started working at Agave Healdsburg last year. She accuses Diaz of telling his employees they would be deported if they cooperated with the labor department’s investigation, which started in February.
The Riley Fire burning in Mendocino County is now 50% contained. It’s burned 18 acres since it flared up on Saturday along Riley Road. As for the Grange Fire, CalFire announced last night they’ve reached 100% containment. All evacuation orders and warnings have been lifted, and all roads around the fire have reopened. In total, it burned 90 acres. CalFire is still investigating the cause of both fires.
