Denver-area wildfire turns deadly as California’s Park Fire torches an area larger than Los Angeles

By Holly Yan and Andy Rose, CNN

(CNN) — While California battles the fifth-largest wildfire in state history, a trio of wildfires near Denver has forced hundreds of evacuations and claimed at least one life. Here’s the latest on a barrage of blazes burning in several western states:

• Colorado’s Stone Canyon Fire turns deadly: The remains of a fire victim were found Wednesday inside a home in the path of the Stone Canyon Fire – one of three wildfires ravaging the Denver area, Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson said Wednesday.

The Stone Canyon Fire has scorched more than 1,500 acres and Gov. Jared Polis said five homes have been destroyed. As firefighting efforts continue, evacuation orders for parts of the town of Lyon were lifted. But some gas service in those neighborhoods was turned off as a precautionary measure, the sheriff said. “Getting people back in with utilities will take some time,” he said. As of Wednesday evening, the fire was 20% contained, according to Boulder’s disaster management office.

• Colorado’s Quarry Fire spreads rapidly: Emergency crews raced to evacuate homes southwest of Denver overnight as the Quarry Fire, previously known as the Wildland Fire, threatened several subdivisions, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said. By Wednesday night, the blaze had grown from 50 acres to 341 acres, the sheriff’s office posted on X, and was still 0% contained.

Polis has deployed the state National Guard to assist in the fire response, he announced in a Wednesday news conference. It marks the first fire-related deployment since 2021’s Marshall Fire, the governor said, which destroyed hundreds of homes.

Polis emphasized the National Guard will not be firefighting, but will be “able to take additional support positions, road closures (and) logistics to free up other first responders who directly respond to the fires.”

• Firefighters struggle with limited resources and “a rattlesnake problem”: The Quarry Fire will be tough to fight due to the terrain and the number of other wildfires searing parts of Colorado, local officials said. “We don’t know if we’re going to get any air support today or not,” Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Mark Techmeyer said Wednesday.

While no injuries nor damaged structures have been reported from the Quarry Fire, firefighters face new hazards with the blaze. The terrain is mountainous, steep and “really hard to navigate on foot,” Techmeyer said. On top of that, “We have a rattlesnake problem to deal with.”

In addition to the Quarry and Stone Canyon fires, Colorado is also grappling with the Alexander Mountain Fire, which has singed more than 7,600 acres north of Denver and was 1% contained as of Wednesday night. Hot, dry and windy weather is expected over the area through Friday and there’s a slight chance of scattered rain over the weekend.

• California’s Park Fire is bigger than the size of Los Angeles: The weeklong inferno, which started July 24 in Northern California, is now the fifth-largest wildfire in state history. It has swallowed more than 391,000 acres, or 611 square miles, according to Cal Fire.

More than 5,800 personnel are battling the blaze, using more than 500 fire engines and 40 helicopters. “This region, both Butte and Tehama (counties) … has had four of the largest 10 fires known in history,” Cal Fire Incident Commander Billy See said. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Park Fire had destroyed more than 360 structures and was 18% contained.

• Newsom declares state of emergency for another wildfire: In Southern California, the Borel Fire has ravaged Kern County and decimated a historic mining community. Gov. Gavin Newsom visited affected communities Tuesday and proclaimed a state of emergency. The governor previously declared a state of emergency for the Park and Gold Complex fires.

• Suspect accused of starting the Park Fire could face more charges: Ronnie Dean Stout II, the man suspected of starting the Park Fire, has been charged with arson, according to a felony criminal complaint filed Monday. Authorities said a witness saw him pushing a burning car down a 60-foot embankment.

Stout claims he did not push the car, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey told reporters. The suspect didn’t enter a plea during a court appearance Monday and was denied bail. His arraignment was continued to Thursday, Ramsey said, and more charges could be added.

• Resident loses two homes in separate wildfires: Standing in the charred remains of his house, Butte County resident Rick Pero told CNN affiliate KHSL the Park Fire was the second California inferno to destroy his home. After the deadly 2018 Camp Fire obliterated his house, Pero and his wife moved to the Forest Ranch community in Butte County. There, Pero educated his neighbors on defensible space – which he credits for helping save dozens of neighbors’ homes. But the precaution didn’t save his own home, Pero told KHSL: “It was just too much Mother Nature.”

• Oregon firefighters battle mammoth blaze as temperatures soar: Oregon’s largest wildfire, the Durkee Fire, has charred more than 293,000 acres – with no rainfall in sight. The blaze, which was ignited by lightning near the Oregon-Idaho border on July 17, was 52% contained as of Wednesday morning, according to InciWeb. No rainfall is expected the rest of the week, and temperatures are expected to soar to triple digits by the weekend – potentially impairing firefighting efforts.

• 95 large wildfires are raging in the US: Across the country, 95 major wildfires are burning – scorching a combined 2.1 million acres (and counting), the National Interagency Fire Center said Wednesday. Among them, 35 infernos were spreading in Oregon, 12 in California and 10 in Idaho.

“So far in 2024, 28,154 wildfires have burned 4,449,282 acres,” the fire center said. The amount of land torched so far this year is more than the square mileage of Connecticut.

The agency stressed the need to have firefighters and firefighting resources available for an “initial attack” in areas with a high likelihood of fire breaking out. “The vast majority of fire starts are contained at small sizes within 24 hours of their discovery,” the fire center said.

Gusty winds could further fuel fires this week as the heat is expected to intensify across much of the West through Friday. Temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above normal are expected across parts of the Pacific Northwest and the Northern Rockies, and daily high temperature records could be tied or broken this weekend – especially in the Pacific Northwest.

CNN’s Shania Baweja, Taylor Romine, Susannah Cullinane and Robert Shackelford contributed to this report.

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