The wind-driven Dixie wildfire tore through a northern California mountain town, leaving most of the downtown in ashes as crews braced for another explosive run of flames on Thursday.
The Dixie Fire, already the eighth largest in California history, swollen by 40 mph (64 kph) wind gusts, raged through the northern Sierra Nevada town of Greenville Wednesday evening. The fire is 35 percent contained.
A gas station, hotel, and bar were among many structures gutted in the town, which dates to California’s Gold Rush era and has some buildings more than a century old.
The flames were so intense that the fire created enormous pyrocumulus columns of smoke. Social media posts show images of melted street lamp posts.
“We did everything we could,” fire spokesman Mitch Matlow said, reports the Los Angeles Times. “Sometimes it’s just not enough.”
The three-week-old wildfire had already burned over 435 square miles (1,127 square kilometers) before making its new run. The Associated Press reports that the fire’s northern and eastern sides exploded on Wednesday, causing residents to evacuate immediately.
The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office issued a Facebook post warning the town’s approximately 800 residents: “You are in imminent danger and you MUST leave now!”
A Red Flag warning was issued on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. for the fire area and much of the region, when a cold, dry front was expected to pass through, according to Ryan Walbrun, incident meteorologist for the Dixie fire. The warning will last through 8 p.m. Thursday.
“It’s going to set up a critical fire weather pattern,” Walbrun said during an incident update. He added that wind gusts are expected to hit 30 to 40 mph again on Thursday, and along with single-digit humidity, will make for very dangerous conditions.
Started near Cresta Dam in the Feather River Canyon on July 14, the Dixie Fire has destroyed 67 houses and other buildings and torched a bone-dry landscape, and triggered thousands of evacuations in a region still recovering from the deadly 2018 Camp Fire.
