The monstrous Dixie fire in northern California has become the second-largest wildfire in state history, with three people missing and thousands fleeing the flames, officials said on Sunday.
As of Sunday, the fire had destroyed 463,477 acres (187,562 ha) from the previous day’s 447,723 acres. It now covers an area larger than Los Angeles. The Dixie Blaze is the largest active wildfire in the United States, but one of only 11 major wildfires in California.
Over the weekend, it surpassed the 2018 Mendocino Complex Fire to make it the second worst fire in the state’s history. “It was like walking out of a war zone that you see in a movie,” Tammy Kugler told AFP, sitting near her tent at an evacuation station after fleeing before burning down the historic city of Greenville.
“My neighborhood is gone – I mean gone, gone. Everyone I care about and love is in that neighborhood, their house is gone,” she said, “I didn’t have insurance. ” On Saturday, Governor Gavin Newsom visited the charred remains of Greenville, expressing his “deep gratitude” to the teams fighting the flames.
He said that the authorities will have to invest more resources to manage the forests and prevent the fires. But he added that “the droughts are much drier, it’s hotter than ever… we need to directly acknowledge that these are climate-driven wildfires.”
Climate change exacerbates droughts, creating ideal conditions for wildfires to spread out of control and unprecedented material and environmental damage. As the CalFire website reports, the Dixie fire, which injured three firefighters on Saturday, remained at 21 percent on Sunday, unchanged from the day before.
Employees estimate that the fire, which began on July 13, will not eventually go out for two weeks.
– High temperature forecast –
Weak winds and high humidity have provided some relief to firefighters, but they are expecting higher temperatures to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) in the coming days.
Heavy smoke was making driving dangerous for firefighters in some areas, and steep trails were difficult to reach.
The state’s eight biggest wildfires have occurred since December 2017. Still black marks from previous fires have helped Dixie Fire crews at times, reducing the available fuel. Thousands of residents have fled the area, many looking for temporary housing – even living in tents, and often not sure whether their homes have survived.
At an evacuation site under smoky skies in Susanville, exhausted families sat in folding chairs next to tents and vehicles loaded with confiscated items from their abandoned homes. The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office said it was still searching for three people listed as missing, after two others were found over the weekend.
The Dixie Fire has already destroyed nearly 400 structures — decimating Greenville — and Calfire said workers and equipment were needed to save homes in Crescent Mills, a small town three miles (five kilometers) southeast of Greenville. was being deployed.
More than 5,000 workers are now battling the fire in Dixie. Despite repeated evacuation orders from the authorities, some residents have refused to flee, preferring to leave their property to try to fight the fires on their own.
By the end of July, the number of acres burned in California was more than 250 percent from 2020, the worst year of wildfires in the state’s modern history.
Climate change caused by a prolonged drought has dried up much of the western United States and Canada – and left much of the western United States and Canada vulnerable to explosive and highly destructive fires, scientists say.
A preliminary investigation has suggested that the Dixie Fire began when a tree fell on a power cable owned by regional utility Pacific Gas & Company (PG&E), a private operator previously blamed for the Camp Fire in 2018. was ordained, in which 86 people were killed.
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