Dixie fire has now burned nearly 1.3K structures, 1M acres

Almost two months after it began, the Dixie fire has destroyed nearly 1,300 structures and burned nearly 1 million acres across northern California.

The number of properties is more than was destroyed in last year’s August Complex fire, the Los Angeles Times reported, according to Wednesday morning figures. In the August Complex blaze, 935 structures and a little over 1 million acres burned. That remains California’s largest recorded wildfire in terms of acreage burned and the first to surpass one million acres.

Firefighters have the Dixie fire about 59 percent contained, so it could surpass the August Complex fire as the largest in the state’s history.

The Dixie fire started in mid-July and quickly forced thousands of people to evacuate communities in Plumas, Butte, and Tehama counties. The blaze has since spread to Lassen County as well.

The blaze is one of three large wildfires burning across California, the other two being the Caldor fire near Lake Tahoe and the Monument fire in Trinity County.

The Caldor fire began last month and has since forced the evacuation of communities around Lake Tahoe. The fire has burned nearly 1,000 structures, but firefighters managed to keep the blaze out of South Lake Tahoe and now believe they have a leg up on the fire.

The Monument fire has burned about 189,000 acres and at least 50 structures.

[LAT] — Dennis Lynch