Wildfire updates: Dixie Fire growth slows, but crews still expect ‘instability’ at blaze

Calmer winds and higher humidity slowed the growth of the Dixie Fire overnight, providing a brief respite for crews battling the blaze heading into Thursday morning. But officials say the wildfire, which has threatened homes in Butte, Plumas and Tehama counties, is far from over.

Throughout the week, cyclical weather patterns have slowed the fire during periods of humidity and whipped it back up during hotter daytime periods. On Wednesday, warmer temperatures and stronger winds roared the fire’s leading edge back to life after a night of brief calm, sending smoke into the Sacramento Valley.

Officials say the same thing may happen through the day Thursday, forecasting temperatures in the triple-digits and changes in humidity that could bring “instability” to the area.

“This could be a repeat of yesterday,” fire behavior analyst John Cook said in the Dixie Fire’s Thursday morning incident briefing. “We talked about how activity was going to pick up yesterday and then we saw it did. And when you start getting into successive days of drying and sun and repeating, it just picks up a lot of fuels that become available that weren’t available before.”

The Dixie Fire expanded by around 4,000 acres in the 24 hours headed into Thursday morning, marking a relatively slow day of growth for the blaze. In its Thursday morning incident report, the state fire agency said the fire encompassed 221,504 acres (346 square miles) and remained 23% contained.

Over 5,900 firefighters are battling the blaze, which ignited July 14 above the Cresta Dam in Feather River Canyon, in the burn scar of the deadly 2018 Camp Creek fire. The fire is California’s largest so far this season, and is now California’s 13th-largest of all time by acreage.

According to Cal Fire’s Thursday incident report, the Dixie Fire has destroyed 64 structures so far. The Associated Press reported that 36 of those structures were in the Plumas County town of Indian Falls, population 53. The town was all but destroyed by the fire.

Over 10,720 structures were threatened by the fire as of Thursday morning.

The blaze has generated large amounts of smoke. Northerly winds pushed smoke into the Sacramento Valley Wednesday, creating hazy and smoky conditions across the capital region and causing Sacramento County to issue an air quality alert.

Air quality monitors from the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Pollution Control District registered an AQI reading of 172 downtown just after noon, and a reading of 177 in Arden Arcade around 1 p.m.

Jamie Arno, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Pollution Control District, said that the thickness of the smoke from the fire came as a surprise for air quality experts.

“While we did expect smoke from the Dixie Fire to enter the region today, we didn’t expect it to be so dense,” Arno told The Bee.

But Arno added that a Delta breeze should keep the smoke out of Sacramento at least through the weekend. Most of the smoke lifted from the valley by late-afternoon Wednesday.

Numerous mandatory evacuation orders remain in place due to the blaze, including for the communities of Meadow Valley, Bucks Lake, Prattville, Big Meadows and Lake Almanor West in Plumas County; Butte Meadows, Jonesville, Philbrook and High Lakes in Butte County; and the area of Colby Creek in Tehama County.

Detailed information on evacuation zones spanned seven pages of Cal Fire’s incident report. Many roads are closed, including stretches of Highway 36, 70 and 89.

Officially, the fire’s cause remains under investigation by Cal Fire. But Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in a July 18 filing to state regulators said its equipment may have started the fire.

Cal Fire is battling the Dixie Fire in unified command with Lassen National Forest.

Tamarack Fire

Firefighters appear to have turned the tide on the Tamarack Fire, pushing containment up to 59% and keeping expansion minimal through the beginning of the week. The Tamarack Fire is burning in Alpine County and Douglas County, Nev.

Rain early in the week helped crews push containment up beyond the 50% mark, allowing the California and Nevada governors to visit the fire site and speak about containment efforts.

The Tamarack Fire charred 68,571 acres as of Thursday morning, after expanding under 200 acres from the previous day. Containment has remained at 59% since Wednesday morning.

At a news conference Wednesday in an area on the state line, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak praised the collaboration between the states in managing the fire. But the governors also added to a chorus of ongoing criticism of the U.S. Forest Service for their handling of the fire and called on the agency to raise pay for those fighting fires.

“At the end of the day, the U.S. Forest Service is understaffed and under-resourced,” Newsom said. “It has been for years and years and years. ... You look at the federal pay for these men and women, it’s deplorable, it’s unacceptable.”

The Tamarack Fire ignited by lightning in early July on U.S. Forest Service land and began to grow explosively in mid-July amid heavy winds. The U.S. Forest Service has faced criticism for originally leaving the small fire to burn itself out.

The Alpine County Sheriff’s Office lifted all mandatory evacuation orders Wednesday, and Douglas County did the same on Monday. Some areas of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest remain closed.

An interactive map from the Alpine County Sheriff’s Office shows that at least 15 buildings were destroyed within the county. Estimates for Douglas County have not yet been released.

Other California wildfires

▪ The Beckwourth Complex, which previously held the title of California’s largest wildfire so far this year, has remained stagnant for the last week.

The fire complex is now 98% contained and officials lifted all evacuation orders and warnings.

The larger of the two fires within the incident, the Sugar Fire, flared and destroyed several homes in the town of Doyle in mid-July. The fire ultimately burned over 105,600 acres.

Like the Tamarack Fire, lightning started the Beckwourth Complex in early July.

▪ The Lava Fire, which raged in Shasta-Trinity National Forest in late June and early July, has remained at around 78% containment for nearly two weeks. The fire is burning in the rugged terrain near Mount Shasta, making it difficult for firefighters to access the fire to mop up.

Despite the stagnant containment, the fire has expanded minimally over the past two weeks. The only minor expansion occurred in wilderness areas near Mount Shasta.

The fire flared at the beginning of the month, forcing evacuations for thousands of Siskiyou County residents. The fire also burned through thousands of acres of marijuana farms run by the local Hmong population.

This story was originally published July 28, 2021 at 8:22 AM.