Bay Area fires nearly contained as other state blazes still raging

The big Bay Area wildfires started by lightning a month ago were almost completely contained Saturday, but major fires continue to burn in rural areas of Northern California including Butte County and Mendocino County, as well as in Southern California — a reminder that wildfire season is far from over.

The state’s biggestever blaze , the August Complex in Mendocino and Humboldt counties, has raged through 832,891 acres and was 30% contained

Saturday morning. The massive fire continues to grow and was most active on its southern flank.

The fire, which was sparked by lightning more than a month ago, has burned mainly through forest land but has destroyed 51 structures and caused thousands of evacuations. More than 2,100 firefighters, including crews from Montana, New Jersey, Texas and Idaho, are battling the blaze.

The North Complex Fire, which tore through the small communities of Berry Creek and Feather Falls near Lake Oroville in Butte County, killing 15 people and leveling 1,147 houses and businesses, became the fifthlargest fire in California history on Friday. The fire, burning in Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties, has scorched 289,951 acres and was 58% contained as of Saturday morning.

In the fire’s west zone, the areas near Lake Oroville, where the deaths and most of the devastation took place on Sept. 8, the fire has burned through 79,850 acres and is 47% contained.

The three big Bay Area blazes ignited by lightning in midAugust have been almost entirely encircled with containment lines. The LNU Complex Fire in the North Bay, the SCU Complex Fire in the East Bay and San Joaquin Valley, and the

Noah Berger / Associated Press An air tanker heads over the August Complex Fire in Mendocino National Forest, now the largest in state history.