The U.S. Forest Service said the Dixie Fire became the 14th largest wildfire in California history as it spread to 217, 581 acres on Wednesday. Its blaze has reached about 250 miles northeast of San Francisco and 23 percent of it was controlled.
The fire ravaged multiple homes, as seen in an initial damage assessment map released by the officials on Tuesday, and on the following day, the map further showed damages on a bulk of structures in the little communities of Rich Bar on Highway 70 as well as on Indian Falls on Highway 89.
Home addresses can be spotted through the map which uses a scale to identify the damages. Affected ones (1 to 9 percent damaged) and destroyed (more than 50 percent damaged) were shown.
As additional homes affected by the fire are identified, the Cal Fire will continue updating the map.
Cal Fire’s incident report on Tuesday night said that the fire has destroyed 34 structures and 19 minor structures. Seven structures were also damaged.
The largest wildfire is burning an arid landscape and pushed several evacuations in an area that has not yet fully healed from the state’s deadliest fire, the 2018 Camp Fire.
There were a total of 5, 300 personnel deployed for fire fighting efforts in Butte and Plumas counties. The blaze might have been sparked by equipment, according to PG&E.
On Saturday, the fire situation was made even worse when the Dixie Fire was joined with the smaller Fly Fire. The blaze has reached the small community of Indian Falls and destroyed homes, SFGate reported.
The intensity of the fire’s behavior was captured through a remote camera on Saturday and showed how the flames covered the equipment. The Alert Wildfire posted the said video on Twitter and has gone viral.
