The Dixie Fire has grown to more than 103,000 acres and is now threatening hundreds of homes in Plumas and Butte counties.
The fire is now only 17% contained. Thursday morning 3,300 firefighters were on the front lines working to protect about 810 structures that are threatened in Plumas and Butte counties. So far eight buildings have been destroyed.
Crews are using water-dropping helicopters and aerial tankers to help battle the flames.
The 2018 Camp Fire, the deadliest fire in California history, reached just over 150,000 acres.
"Firefighters fought the fire aggressively on the ground and from the air," said San Mateo County Fire Department Public Information Officer Cecile Juliette. "There was structure defense going on and of course continued overnight."
But the weather would not cooperate. Unfortunately winds also picked up, gusting up to 30 miles an hour. Some of those gusts are actually caused by the fire itself, which is big enough to create its own weather systems.
Even more alarming, those embers kicked up by the wind can fall up to two or three miles away and start new fires, said San Gabriel Fire Department Spokesperson Antonio Negretti.
