Lightning and a burning car pushed into a gully are blamed for wildfires scorching Pacific Northwest [Video]

A California man under arrest Thursday was accused of starting the state’s largest wildlife of the year by pushing a burning car into a gully as other fires scorched the Pacific Northwest.

Flames from the fire the suspect is accused of starting exploded into what is now the Park Fire, which has burned more than 110 square miles (289 square kilometers) near the city of Chico. Evacuations were ordered in Butte and Tehama counties, with the blaze only 3% contained by midday Thursday.

California authorities did not immediately name the man they arrested.

As evacuations continued in California, some Oregon residents were cleared to return home after a thunderstorm dropped welcome rain but also potentially dangerous lightning on the biggest active blaze in the United States. More than two dozen new fires started in Montana on Wednesday and early Thursday, and another fast-moving wildfire forced thousands to abandon a town in Canada.

In eastern Oregon, evacuation orders were lifted Thursday for the city of Huntington, population …