Fire tornado rips through California as blaze triples in size

A rare fire tornado has ripped through bushland in northern California, as the state’s largest wildfire this year doubled in size overnight and burned out of control.

The Park fire, which started on Wednesday, has already burned through more than 164,000 acres of land northeast of Chico, and was 3% contained on Friday, Cal Fire said.

A 42-year-old man was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of starting the blaze by rolling a burning car into a gully near Alligator Hole in Butte County.

Footage obtained by BBC News shows the “firenado” – a swirling vortex of flames and ash formed in intense heat and high winds – twisting through an area in Butte County.

The blaze has forced mandatory evacuations in Butte, where California deadliest wildfire, the Camp Fire, killed more than 80 people in 2018.

The 400-strong population of Cohasset have already been moved as the fire burns largely out of control.

“Evacuations are ongoing as the fire grows,” said Megan McCann, of Butte County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday. “We had assistance from 10 different law enforcement and fire agencies. More are on the way.

Cal Fire said that 134 structures had been destroyed, while 4,200 remain threatened.