Huge California fire grows; Montana blaze threatens towns

by Joseph K. Clark

California’s largest single wildfire in recorded history continued to grow after destroying nearly 550 homes, while authorities in Montana ordered evacuations as a wind-driven blaze roared toward several remote communities.

GREENVILLE, Calif. — California’s largest single wildfire in recorded history continued to grow after destroying nearly 550 homes. At the same time, authorities in Montana ordered evacuations as a wind-driven blaze roared toward several remote communities.

The dangerous fires are among 100 large blazes burning Wednesday across 15 states, mainly in the West, where historic drought conditions have left lands parched and ripe for ignition. Fire officials said the east end of Northern California’s massive Dixie Fire flared up Tuesday as afternoon winds increased.

Burning through bone-dry trees, brush, and grass, the fire has destroyed at least 1,045 buildings, more than half of the homes in the northern Sierra Nevada. Newly released satellite imagery showed the scale of the destruction in the small community of Greenville that was incinerated last week during an explosive flames run.

The Dixie Fire, named after the road it started on July 14 by Wednesday morning, covered 783 square miles (2,027 square kilometers). It was 30% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. At least 14,000 tiny homes were still threatened.

The Dixie Fire is the largest single fire in California history and the largest currently burning in the U.S. It is about half the size of the August Complex, a series of lightning-caused 2020 fires across seven counties that were fought together. State officials consider California’s largest wildfire overall.

In southeastern Montana, communities in and around the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation were ordered to evacuate as the uncontrolled Richard Spring Fire grew amid erratic winds.

The order included Lame Deer, where people who fled the fire early Tuesday had sought shelter, only to be displaced again that night when the fire got within several miles. The town of about 2,000 people is home to the tribal headquarters, and several subdivisions are surrounded by rugged, forested terrain.

California fire

Also ordered to leave were about 600 people around Ashland, a small town just outside the reservation with many businesses along its main street and surrounded by grasslands and patchy forest.

Two homes caught fire Tuesday but were saved, including one near Lame Deer. No homes were reported lost, Rosebud County Sheriff Allen Fulton said. Sheriff’s deputies used fire extinguishers on the flames, and Fulton said a passing fire helicopter dropped a bucket of water to put it out.

Heavy winds were forecast to return Wednesday, and authorities were concerned that the fire would again advance toward Ashland and Lame Deer.

The flames came right up to a subdivision outside Ashland along the Tongue River and were within several miles of the town by Wednesday morning. Powerful gusts Tuesday caused the blaze to explode across more than 230 square miles (600 square kilometers) as the fire jumped roads, creeks, and fire lines created to prevent it from growing. It was 0% contained Wednesday morning.

Heatwaves and historic droughts tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West. Scientists have said climate change has made the region much warmer and drier in the past 30 years and will continue to make the weather more extreme and wildfires more frequent and destructive. The fires across the West come as parts of Europe also endure large blazes spurred by tinder-dry conditions.

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