Dixie Fire now California’s largest wildfire of the season
The Dixie Fire burning in Butte and Plumas counties is now California’s largest wildfire of the season, authorities said, and the fight to contain it is only expected to get more difficult in the coming days.
As of 7 p.m. Thursday, the fire had scorched 113,006 acres and was 18 percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Beckwourth Complex, the previous leader, had charred 105,670 acres and was 98 percent contained.
Crews have faced challenging conditions, including relative humidity in the low teens and warm temperatures, said Julia Ruthford, a Cal Fire incident meteorologist, at a news conference.
“Unfortunately, that critical pattern is going to continue and actually worsen over the next couple of days,” said Ruthford. A ridge of high pressure is expected to build over the area, resulting in “significant warming” and even drier conditions, she added.
“I really wish I had better news to tell you,” she said.
Chris Waters, a deputy incident commander with California Incident Management Team One, said the vegetation fueling the fire is unusually dry for this time of the year.
“We are at conditions that we wouldn’t be seeing usually until we get to late September or early October, which is late in the year, and right now we are in mid-July,” Waters said.
“What does that mean?” he continued. “That means that all of these fuels that are on the ground – in particular the very large dead fuels, those fuels that we consider 1,000-hour fuels, 5 to 6 inches in diameter – are already at critical levels and fully available to burn unimpeded.”
Waters said crews are also contending with long-range spot fires. Embers are traveling up the smoke column and sometimes falling up to five miles ahead of the main fire, something Waters said he hadn’t previously seen in his 20 years on the job.
The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, expanded mandatory evacuation orders to include Greenville, Crescent Mills, Round Valley Reservoir, Dixie Canyon and Indian Falls. Click here for a full list of current evacuation orders and warnings.
Eight structures have been destroyed by the fire, said Shannon Prather, a unified incident commander with the U.S. Forest Service. Hundreds more remain threatened.
The fire ignited July 14 about 10 miles northeast of Paradise. It remained more or less stable for several days – burning away from the footprint of the 2018 Camp Fire – before exploding over the weekend.
Prather said crews are doing everything in their power “to get around this fire” and “protect our communities,” but he urged members of the public to immediately heed evacuation orders.
“Don’t wait for the fire to get to your doorstep,” he said. “This fire is outpacing us at moments.”
Check back for updates.