The Dixie fire has destroyed more than 1,000 structures and 550 of them were single-family homes.
The wildfire has burned more than 510,000 acres and is just 30 percent contained, according to the Los Angeles Times. It started in mid-July and has more than doubled in size since the start of August.
It’s now the second-largest fire in California history by acreage, behind last summer’s August Complex fire, which ultimately killed one person, burned more than a million acres and destroyed 935 structures.
The Dixie fire entirely leveled the small town of Greenville — accounting for about half of the structures destroyed by the fire — and has burned parts of four counties.
It threatens around 16,000 more structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
The fire has reached parts of the town of Chester, but firefighters have largely been able to keep it away from the town.
“We don’t want any more structures to be destroyed,” Cal Fire spokesman Edwin Zuniga said. “We don’t want more people to be displaced by this fire.”
In terms of property destruction, the Dixie fire is currently the 14th most destructive in state history. Six of the 20 most destructive fires took place between August and September of last year, which was the worst year for wildfires in terms of acres burned.
The Camp fire of late 2018 remains the most destructive in state history. While it burned just 153,000 acres, it killed 85 people and destroyed 18,804 structures.
[LAT] — Dennis Lynch