More than 26,500 people in several counties are evacuation orders. "If you remain, emergency responders may not be able to assist you." "If you are still in the area, you are in danger and you MUST leave now!!" the Plumas County Sheriff's Office wrote in a Facebook post Thursday afternoon. It also spurred another round of alarming evacuation orders as the fire crept toward the communities of Chester, Lake Almanor Peninsula and Hamilton Branch. “The fire is moving so fast and so hot, it’s an extremely dangerous situation,” park spokesman Kevin Sweeney said. It’s too early to tell how many acres have burned, he added. What we know: Dixie Fire at 320,000 acres, forces new evacuations in Plumas County 'Everything's been burned': Firefighters witness destruction of historic Greenville in Northern California Park staff prepared structures in the area over the past few days, but that may not be enough to save them. The trees, grass and brush are so dry that “if an ember lands, you’re virtually guaranteed to start a new fire,” fire spokesman Mitch Matlow said.Īlready Thursday, the hazardous conditions caused by the blaze forced the closure of the Lassen Volcanic National Park, a more than 100,000-acre park about 130 miles north of Sacramento near the southern end of the Cascade Mountains. “The other thing you can expect is that firefighters will remain with that priority of human life and doing everything we can to stop this fire.”įirefighters prepared for another explosive run of flames Thursday, fueled by strong wind gusts and bone dry vegetation caused by the drought. Red flag weather conditions of high heat, low humidity and a gusty afternoon, with winds as strong as 35 mph, were expected to be a continued threat through Thursday night. “What you can expect tomorrow is that the fire map will look significantly different once the new growth gets put on the map,” Jones said. Jones said that fire crews have no knowledge of any casualties at this time and that their main priority is protecting the lives and structures that are ahead of the fire’s path. “In the morning we’ll have a better estimate of that from the infrared flight that we’ll do tonight,” he said, adding that Friday promises to be "another day and afternoon of explosive fire growth." The scope of Thursday’s destruction would become clearer overnight, Jones said.
Plumas County Sheriff Todd Johns said more than 100 homes were destroyed in the area.ĭixie Fire public information officer Tim Jones told the USA TODAY Network on Thursday that the fire's growth Wednesday was driven by high winds and fed by dry fuels amid red flag conditions. The Dixie Fire, now the sixth-largest blaze in the state's modern history, has been burning for three weeks and spreading in Northern California's Plumas, Butte, Lassen and Tehama counties.
GREENVILLE, Calif. - The largest wildfire in California this year "catastrophically destroyed" the gold rush town of Greenville on Wednesday night, then forced the closure of a national park on Thursday while also chasing residents from their homes across the northern Sierra Nevada region. Watch Video: Dixie Fire guts California town as it continues to ravage state
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