The Dixie Fire has become California’s biggest wildfire of the season, passing 200 square miles and prompting evacuations along Lake Almanor’s shore.
Friday morning’s report from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection put the area burned at 142,940 acres (223 square miles), with 18% containment. That was almost 40,000 acres more than 24 hours previous.
At least eight structures have been destroyed, Cal Fire said.
The black line on the map above shows the latest released perimeter.
The previous largest fire of the California wildfire season so far is the Beckwourth Complex, which burned 105,670 acres in Plumas and Lassen counties and is 96% contained.
The Dixie Fire’s growth to the north prompted evacuation orders to the shore of Lake Almanor. Two more zones came under the order Thursday evening: from the lake west to the Pacific Crest Trail, and an area southeast of the lake that includes Greenville and Crescent Mills.
Also on Thursday evening, the separate Fly Fire, in the Butterfly Valley, prompted evacuations of Keddie, east of Highway 70.
More than 700 square miles of Butte and Plumas counties are under evacuation orders. The mandatory evacuation zone is marked by orange lines on the map above and is shown in more detail on the map below, along with the warning zones.
Tehama County has also issued warnings, which are not included on the Butte/Plumas map.
Highway 70 is closed between Jarbo Gap and the northern outskirts of Quincy, and Highway 89 is closed between highways 70 and 36, the California Department of Transportation said. Those closures are indicated by orange dots.
The Pacific Crest Trail is also closed, between Bucks Summit and Highway 36 near Chester (purple dots).
For latest updates, see the Butte and Plumas County emergency map.
The Dixie Fire information phone number has changed. It is now (530) 538-7826.
The fire was reported around 5 p.m. July 13, along Highway 70 just north of the scar of the 2018 Camp Fire. That perimeter of that fire, which burned about 150,000 acres, is indicated by the pale red tone.