The man accused of starting the Park Fire returns to court Thursday. 42-year-old Ronnie Stout of Chico declined to enter a plea on Monday. He’s accused of pushing his mother’s burning car into a gully full of dry brush in Upper Bidwell Park last Wednesday, which quickly grew to become an inferno. Cal-Fire Arson Investigators made the arrest early last Thursday. Stout has spent a lot of time in prison for child molestation, robbery with great bodily injury and more. If convicted of the felony charges he faces it would be his third strike, making him eligible for 25 years to life in prison. Butte County DA Mike Ramsey says Stout doesn’t deny starting the fire, but he claims it was an accident. He’s being held without bail.
-Steve Gibson