Dixie Fire, California’s largest, forces evacuations amid a rapid spread – Everett Post

Everett

(SAN FRANCISCO) – More than 100 people were evicted from their homes overnight as California’s largest forest fire continues to spread rapidly.

The Dixie Fire has now expanded to more than 190,000 acres – an increase of 20,000 acres in just 24 hours – leading to new mandatory evacuations near Feather River Canyon as firefighters struggle to get the 21% containment raise. Officials are still investigating the cause.

More than 8,300 people in Northern California are currently under evacuation orders, according to the California governor’s emergency medical services.

Over the weekend, the Dixie Fire surpassed the Beckwourth Complex Fire in Doyle, California as the largest area fire in the state. The Beckwourth Complex fire, lit by lightning on July 3, is now 98% contained after scorching 105,670 acres.

The Tamarack fire near Gardnerville, Nevada, had burned nearly 67,000 acres by Sunday morning, destroying at least 13 buildings, and containing only 27%. It caught fire on July 4th in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

In Oregon, the bootleg fire, currently the largest in the country and the third largest in the state’s history, is so hot that it creates its own weather pattern. Pyrocumulus clouds, or fire-powered thunderclouds, are formed when large bubbles of heat and smoke from the Bootleg Fire rise in southern Oregon and meet a relatively cool atmosphere.

The Medford National Weather Service has also confirmed that a tornado occurred near the east side of the Bootleg Fire on July 18 due to extreme fire behavior, dry fuels, and an unstable atmosphere.

The Bootleg Fire, about 18 km northeast of the city of Sprague River in southern Oregon, had burned through nearly 409,000 acres by Sunday morning and was 46% contained.

The 2012 Long Draw Fire with 557,028 acres and the 2002 Biscuit Fire with 500,000 acres were the two largest fires in the state.

Nearly 90 major forest fires are burning in 13 states, with more than 2.5 million acres burned so far this year. In the west, even hotter and drier conditions are expected today, increasing the risk of fire for the region already affected by flames.

More than 3 million people in the west will be on heat and fire alarms by Monday, and several states are also having air quality warnings due to the forest fires.

Four states from Nevada to Montana will see triple-digit temperatures on Sunday while relative humidity is expected to stay at just 11%, with gusts of wind up to 35 miles per hour.

ABC News’ Jenna Harrison, Sarah Hermina, and Hope Osemwenkhae contributed to this report.