As California’s biggest fire of the year raced toward his neighborhood and the police ordered residents to evacuate, Justin Freese decided he was going nowhere. Instead, he calmly unfurled his 300 feet of fire hose, readying his generators and surveyed the fire’s progress. “I live up here — I’ve gotta be prepared,” Mr. Freese, 40, said Friday, as he paced his property set amid the conifer forests a 20-minute drive outside the city of Chico. A tower of wildfire smoke — streaked orange, red and black — soared into the sky as the Park fire tore through the valley below. By Saturday morning, it had consumed more than 300,000 acres of land, making it the largest active fire in the country, and it was still zero percent contained.

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Persons: Justin Freese, Freese, “, Mr Locations: Forest, Chico