California’s massive Dixie Fire merged with a smaller blaze and destroyed homes.
About 10,000 houses remain under threat
INDIAN FALLS, Calif. — California’s largest wildfire merged with a smaller blaze and destroyed homes in remote areas with limited access for firefighters, as numerous other fires gained strength and threatened property across the West.
The massive Dixie Fire, which started July 14, had already leveled more than a dozen houses and other structures when it combined with the Fly Fire and tore through the Northern California community of Indian Falls after dark Saturday.
An updated damage estimate was not available Sunday, though fire officials said the blaze had charred nearly 298 square miles of timber and brush in Plumas and Butte counties.
It was 21 percent contained.
The fire prompted evacuation orders in several mountain communities and along the west shore of Lake Almanor, a popular resort area. About 10,000 homes remained under threat, officials said.
Elsewhere in California, the 104-square-mile Tamarack Fire south of Lake Tahoe continued to burn through timber and chaparral and threatened communities on both sides of the California-nevada state line. The fire, sparked by lightning July 4 in Alpine County, California, has destroyed at least 23 buildings, including more than a dozen in Nevada. It was 27 percent contained Sunday, and officials were able to lift evacuation orders.
Heavy smoke from that blaze and the Dixie Fire lowered visibility and may at times ground aircraft providing support for fire crews. The air quality south of Lake Tahoe and across the state line into Nevada deteriorated to very unhealthy levels.
Firefighters also reported progress against the nation’s largest wildfire, the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon, containing 46 percent of the blaze that had consumed nearly 640 square miles.
More than 2,200 firefighters battled the blaze, focusing Sunday on constructing containment lines at the north and eastern edges in dense timber. Crews could get a break from rain and higher humidity predicted for this week, officials said.
The lightning-caused fire has burned 67 homes, mainly cabins, and at least 2,000 houses were under evacuation orders.
In southwest Montana, officials were focusing on structure protection for three fires amid weather forecasts of rising temperatures, low humidity and westerly winds this week, factors that could produce explosive growth.