California's Dixie Fire, the largest wildfire burning in the nation, continues to threaten a dozen small communities in the northern Sierra Nevada. So far the fire has burned 510,227 acres and is only 30 percent contained.
Of the more than 800 structures destroyed, 584 of them are single-residency homes.
Officials have issued a new warning about the dangers of more devastating wildfires as fire season continues.
“We have a long peak season left in our year, so we’re gonna be at this for months to come. So, we need you as the public to be very vigilant,” Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said.
Porter warned that, even as firefighters make headway on portions of the Dixie Fire, the weather may begin to work against them.
In the Dixie Fire West Zone, Cal Fire predicting windy conditions with high pressure building and predicted thunderstorms. Those thunderstorms are the cause for concern heading into Thursday.
In the Dixie Fire East Zone, peak fire activity on Wednesday hampered firefighter efforts near Keddie Ridge, Cal Fire said in its latest report. Additional resources were assigned in and around Wilcox Valley on Wednesday but had to be pulled out due to the fire’s intensity there.
The Dixie Fire is now burning for its 30th day straight. Its cause is still under investigation.
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With weather shifting and bringing on monsoonal moisture, the dangers for thunderstorms and dry lightning are very real, putting more responsibility on civilians to help prevent fires.
“We need you to be very vigilant in not creating sparks that could ignite vegetation,” Porter said. “If there’s even a blade of grass near you, that is enough to start a fire these days. It is so dry.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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