Dixie Fire, One of Largest in State History
Jul 30, 2021 12:00AM ● By By Seti LongNORTH STATE COUNTIES, CA (MPG) – The Dixie Fire is now the 14th largest wildfire in California history, according to CALFIRE.
According to the CALFIRE Incident Report dated July 28th, as of 7:00 am the Dixie Fire is 217, 581 acres and at 23 percent containment. At this point, 35 structures have been destroyed along with 19 other minor structures, with damage to 7.
The Fly Fire that popped up to the east has merged with the Dixie Fire and CALFIRE is currently using the Hwy 70 corridor to divide the whole of the burn into the Dixie Fire West Zone and the Dixie Fire East Zone.
CALFIRE reports that activity in the west zone was minimal overnight and that the fire is burning in a remote area with heavy terrain making access difficult. Dozer lines are being used to protect the community of Jonesville and Butte Meadows and control the progress of the fire.
To the northern edge, CALFIRE reports no change from the Humboldt Summit over to Lake Almanor, parallel to Hwy 89 to Canyon Dam – the fire line is holding. A crew of 5,000 firefighters are constantly patrolling the perimeters to identify any breakout areas. Work is being done to protect historical landmarks like the Swiss Cabin and Caribou Powerhouse in the Caribou drainage area.
Moving further east, crews are using dozers, tactical firing operations and pretreating areas around the dozer lines with ground application fire retardant, using water tenders when aerial deployment is not optimal to decrease the risk of embers lighting and fire spread.
The CALFIRE incident report says, “Fire behaviorists predict robust fire activity day and night this week, based on expected weather and fuel conditions.”
There are currently 420 engines, 90 water tenders, 34 helicopters, 90 hand-crews, 192 dozers, 1,157 additional personnel and numerous air tankers from throughout the state working to control the blaze. An estimated date for containment is still unknown.
