Megafire and two other fires sweep northern California

Fueled by a trio of dangerous weather conditions – strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures – a series of wildfires, including a so-called mega-fire that has already charred more than 100,000 acres, continue to burn. huge tracts of drought-dried vegetation in northern California.

In Plumas County, the massive sugar fire, California’s first 100,000-acre fire this year burned more than 105,000 acres by Sunday night and was 82 percent contained, officials said.

The fire, which at one point developed at such a rate that its cloud of smoke, ash and heat generated its own lightning bolt, continues to chew through dry chaparral and pine trees, aided by gusts of wind and temperatures expected to peak in the low 90s on Sunday. It was one of two lightning-triggered forest fires that together make up the Beckwourth Complex fires.

In a recent briefing, U.S. Forest Service operations section chief Jake Cagle said the 100,000-acre milestone was no longer rare in California, which has experienced a record-breaking wildfire season. in 2020 and is already exceeding those figures this year.

“These are the new standards now,” Cagle said. “We used to say ‘unprecedented and historic’. We are past that now.

Weather experts said that vegetation in northern California is at record drought levels for this time of year, fueling fires that burn faster and hotter than firefighters expect to see at the start of the fire season .

Another fire that burns south of Lake Tahoe, near the California-Nevada border, has reached over 18,000 acres, according to the United States Forest Service. Dubbed the Tamarack Fire, the blaze, which was ignited by lightning on July 4, remains 0% contained and has forced evacuations in and around the small mountain town of Markleeville.

the Ride of death, a 103-mile bike ride that begins and ends in Markleevlle, was canceled on Saturday.

In Butte County, the Dixie fire, which started to burn on Wednesday, had charred more than 18,000 acres by Sunday night. The blaze burns along remote, steep terrain and is only 15% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. From Sunday morning, Caltrans had closed part of State Route 70 near its junction with State Route 191.

A fourth fire – this one burning near Yosemite National Park and nicknamed the river fire – started a week ago and spanned more than 9,600 acres, destroying 12 structures and damaging two others, officials said. The fire is now 86% under control.

And along a rural expanse of southern Oregon just north of the California state border, the Bootleg Fire, the the biggest forest fire in the nation, had covered more than 298,000 acres by Sunday night. The gigantic fire, which at one point threatened to derail California’s electricity grid, is now 22% content.

In Southern California, the National Weather Service’s Oxnard office issued a Sunday-Monday morning red flag warning for Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, as well as in the mountains of Ventura County, warning that lightning from monsoon thunderstorms could create an increased fire risk.

Erratic wind gusts are expected in the region, officials said, along with the possibility of dry lightning. In the rest of Ventura County and Los Angeles County, officials said, wet showers were expected, including brief and heavy downpours.