The Park Fire burning in Northern California continues to grow, but it still would need to more than double in size to eclipse the state’s largest-ever wildfire, the 2020 August Complex Fire.
As of Friday , Cal Fire numbers show the Park Fire has burned 399,437 acres. The jump in size from the previous day meant that it moved from the fifth to the fourth largest recorded wildfire in California history, surpassing the 2020 SCU Lightning Complex incident, which saw 396,624 acres burned.
For comparison, 399,000 acres is about equal to 623 square miles — more than six times the size of California’s capital, Sacramento.
Weather forecasts show potentially perilous fire conditions are expected in the Park Fire area through the weekend, and Cal Fire reports that containment is at just 24% as of Friday.
These are the three record-setting blazes ahead of the Park Fire on the list of largest wildfires in California’s history.