The destruction already wrought by the Park Fire, which was sparked less than 24 hours ago, has not yet even been assessed. But the fire grew to over 45,000 acres by Thursday morning, making it the largest wildfire of the fire year to date in California.

The Park Fire began around 3 pm Wednesday, and it is burning just northeast of Chico in Butte County. The origin point of the fire was along Upper Park Road, in the vicinity of Bidwell Park Golf Course, and fed by strong winds Wednesday, it quickly grew, burning to the north of Chico and consuming an unknown number of structures.

The Chronicle has video of a home near Rock Creek Road exploding in flames, and videographer Jason Camp of AIO Films said that at least four other homes were destroyed in the immediate vicinity of that one.

The fire was 3% contained as of Thursday morning, and had burned 45,550 acres, burning into neighboring Tehama County overnight.

Update: As of Thursday afternoon, the fire had nearly doubled in size to 71,800 acres, and was still 3% contained. A 42-year-old Chico man has been arrested for allegedly sparking the fire by pushing a burning vehicle into a gully near the golf course.

As KTVU reports, the smoke plume from the fire could be seen from the Sacramento Valley, more than 30 miles away.

Map via Cal Fire

Within 12 to 18 hours since being sparked, the Park Fire had already surpassed Santa Barbara County's Lake Fire in size. The Lake Fire began on July 5 and has burned over 38,600 acres. It is now 90% contained.

There are mandatory evacuation orders for more than two dozen neighborhoods, or "zones," in Butte and Tehama counties, with evacuation warnings in place for nine more. Those can be found here, and residents seeking information can check the Butte County Sheriffs website, or call the hotline at 833-512-5378.

An image from one of the Alert California wildfire cameras operated by UC San Diego and PG&E, at Richardson Springs, showed explosive flames at the base of the camera tower. Per KTVU, that camera is now offline and was presumably destroyed in the flames.

We'll update you as the situation changes with the Park Fire.