On Tuesday morning, fire officials said the Rocky fire, blazing in Lake, Colusa and Yolo counties, has spread to 65,000 acres after jumping containment lines.
Described as historic and unprecedented, the Rocky fire, fueled by drought-like conditions, and erratic winds is only 12 percent contained. Fire officials did say that today, the winds have died down, which will help to keep the fire from spreading, however, there is still much to do.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, posted statistics showing the current fires burning in the state have consumed three times the state’s five year average of 48,153 acres for this time of year. Cal Fire also noted that over 13,000 people are under evacuation orders.
The Rocky blaze, the largest wildfire in the state, has destroyed 24 homes and 26 other structures, leaving 7,000 additional structures at risk. “This area has not burned on record before, so the vegetation in some of these areas is very dense,” said Cal Fire spokesman Brice Bennett, according to a local ABC affiliate.
Cal Fire is still very worried the huge wildfire could still have a mind of its own and continue to spread because with the tinder-dry conditions, it has behaved in ways they have never seen before.
“It’s unpredictable. It built its own weather,” said Cal Fire Capt. Steve Kaufman. “On Saturday night, in the middle of the night, between 9 and midnight, it grew about 20,000 acres in the span of about five hours. We don’t normally see fire at nighttime grow that spectacular. It’s hard for me to speculate what to expect because we’re dealing with conditions we’ve never seen before.”
Over 3,000 firefighters are battling this one blaze, with additional firefighters being brought in from the southern part of the state. More than 285 engines, four air tankers and 19 helicopters are also involved in fighting the blaze. In all, over 10,000 firefighters are involved in fighting 21 fires say Cal Fire officials.
Update on other fires in the state
As of Tuesday, the Frog Fire has burned about 4,200 acres since Thursday, and is now 20 percent contained. The Lake Fire in San Bernardino County burned more than 31,000 acres before it was contained.
The Willow Fire northeast of North Fork in the Sierra National Forest was 70 percent contained as of Monday, and some evacuation orders were lifted. The Cabin Fire east of Porterville in the Sequoia National Forest got a little help from some light rain. The rain helped firefighters to establish containment lines.
The Wragg fire in the Lake Berryessa area of Napa and Solano counties, is now 97 percent contained, after burning more than 8,051 acres. It started on July 22.
