By Hannah Knowles, Washington Post
The Dixie Fire that has forced thousands from their homes in Northern California and destroyed one historical town grew into the second-largest blaze in state history Sunday, officials said, as the wildfire mushroomed to more than 463,000 acres.
The fire consumed the historical town of Greenville late Wednesday and continues to threaten nearly 14,000 buildings, according to Cal Fire, the state firefighting agency, underscoring the danger of climate change-fueled disasters. Most of California’s biggest wildfires on record have erupted in the past year, as dry conditions and high temperatures lead to destruction, mass evacuations, and smoke disrupting life in the West.
On Sunday, officials said they were trying to keep Dixie’s flames from reaching homes in the tiny community of Crescent Mills, just a few miles south of Greenville. As evacuation orders expand, they have been warning of unusually fast-spreading flames and“historically” low moisture levels leaving land primed to burn.
“We’re seeing fire activity that even veteran firefighters haven’t seen in their career,” Cal Fire spokesman Edwin Zuniga told The Washington Post. “So we’re just in really uncharted territory.”
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Dixie’s destruction is still dwarfed by past blazes, including the 2018 Camp Fire that killed at least 85 people and torched well over 18,000 structures. Still, authorities say the Dixie Fire has ruined several hundred buildings and injured three firefighters. No fatalities have been reported.
In acreage burned, Dixie passed the massive 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire and now ranks behind only the August Complex Fire of 2020, which spread to more than 1 million acres. That blaze — the result of many smaller fires sparked by lightning — destroyed more than 900 structures and led to one death, according to Cal Fire.
Full containment of the Dixie Fire is not expected for at least two weeks, according to Cal Fire’s latest update.
In Greenville, Calif., a town of about 1,100 dating back to the Gold Rush era, Dixie left mostly rubble piles and charred building frames. The U.S. Forest Service said only about a quarter of the town’s structures survived.
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