California’s Dixie Fire, the largest fire in the state, was aided by dangerously windy weather Tuesday. The video above shows multiple parts of Lassen County on fire as the weather system arrived Monday afternoon and evening.
Red flag warnings were set in place until near midnight Tuesday. The weather forecast prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to warn it might cut off power to 48,000 customers in portions of 18 California counties from Tuesday evening through Wednesday afternoon. The goal of the power shutdown would be to prevent winds from knocking down or hurling debris into power lines, sparking new wildfires.
Investigations are continuing, but PG&E has notified utility regulators the Dixie fire may have been caused by trees falling into its power lines.
All that wind pushed the fire within 10 miles of Susanville, California as of Tuesday afternoon. Susanville is the seat of Lassen County and the largest city the Dixie Fire has approached since it broke out last month.
Ash fell from the advancing fire and a Police Department statement urged residents “to be alert and be ready to evacuate” if the fire threatens the city.
“It’s not out of play, and the next 24 hours are going to be crucial to watch as to what the fire is going to do there,” Operations Section Chief Mark Brunton said in an online briefing.
No formal evacuation had been ordered.
However, residents in the town of Janesville were also ordered to evacuate. Some buildings in the town have been destroyed, but according to Brunton, firefighters was able to herd the fire around the majority of the town.
The Dixie Fire has scorched more than 940 square miles in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades. It’s less than a third contained.
Damage surveys have counted more than 1,100 buildings destroyed, including 630 homes. More than 16,000 structures remained threatened.
California was dealing with several other massive fires. This includes the Caldor Fire, which started Saturday southeast of the Dixie Fire in El Dorado County. It has grown to about 10 square miles in size.
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