The biggest single wildfire ever recorded in California continued raging on Tuesday as fire crews attempted to defend rural communities against the blaze that has destroyed hundreds of homes, according to the Associated Press.
Clear skies above portions of the Dixie Fire have enabled aircraft to rejoin firefighting efforts this week, the outlet noted.
“Whether or not we can fly depends very much on where the smoke is. There’s still some areas where it’s just too smoky,” fire spokesperson Edwin Zuniga said, according to the AP.
The blaze by Tuesday had wrecked almost 900 homes and other buildings, the outlet reported, noting that a great deal of the community of Greenville burned last week. However, reports are “definitely subject to change” since assessment teams cannot venture into many areas to tally what has been burned, Zuniga said.
Thousands of acres of new fire lines have been cut by crews in an effort to block the inferno from spreading, the AP noted. Officials think the fire lines on the fire’s southern side will keep the blaze in check there, but the future of the fire is unknown, authorities said, according to the outlet.
“We don’t know where this fire is going to end and where it’s going to land. It continues to challenge us,” Chris Carlton, supervisor for Plumas National Forest, said, according to the outlet.
The inferno is around half as large as the August Complex, a series of 2020 lightning-induced blazes in seven counties that were battled together and that California officials view as the state’s biggest wildfire overall, the AP noted.
Wildfires burning in the Golden State number among some 100 big fires in 15 states, largely in the West, according to the outlet.
Not only is the Dixie Fire is the biggest single fire in California history, it is also the biggest fire that is presently ablaze in the country.
Almost a quarter of the firefighters assigned to tackle Western blazes are battling Golden State fires, Rocky Oplinger, an incident commander, said, according to the Associated Press.