North California continues to battle its biggest wildfire of the season
As of Wednesday, the Dixie Fire had burned 274,139 acres in Butte and Plumas counties and was 35% contained, according to Cal Fire.
The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday afternoon that anyone who remained in Greenville, Chester and Crescent Milles despite evacuation orders should leave immediately.
The Sheriff’s Office also said that anyone in Chester who cannot evacuate and is threatened by fire should take refuge at the Chester High School baseball field if they can safely get there.
NSPR’S Angel Huracha and Adia White spoke with Dixie Fire Public Information Officer Tim Jones about the fire’s current status, conditions in Greenville, and the weather forecast over the next few days.
On the outlook of the Dixie Fire through Wednesday evening and Thursday morning
This afternoon, this evening and into tomorrow, we're expecting red flag fire weather conditions, which involve gusty winds between 25 and 35 miles an hour, with gusts possibly at 40 miles an hour. And so, firefighters around the fire are preparing for that change and any loss or growth.
On the outlook on the situation in Greenville Wednesday afternoon
The entire Dixie Fire area is under a red flag warning for low humidity and high winds out of the west and southwest, with gusts anywhere from 25 up to 40 miles an hour. So those winds are pressuring fire lines south of Greenville
We're actively engaging right now in structure protection, have aerial resources on helicopters dropping in that area and are actively engaging in that fire.
Editor's note: As of Wednesday evening, the Associated Press is reporting that many businesses and some homes in Greenville have been destroyed.
On those who remain in evacuated areas
The sheriff's office has issued a mandatory evacuation and we would ask that people heed that and go ahead and evacuate. We really want to make sure that people are safe in evacuating and that firefighters are safe fighting the fire.
On any relief once the Red Flag Warning expires this Thursday
The Red Flag Warning is just an indicator of when a fire could be potentially active. And the conditions are ripe for that explosive growth. So after the red flag warning expires, at this point, the prediction is that humidity will come back up slightly and that winds will subside, which will help firefighting efforts with less active fire.
So, we are looking forward to that, we are again mobilizing resources and monitoring the north side of the fire which has had the most growth over the last day and a half.
On the outlook and weather conditions going into Wednesday night and Thursday
The Red Flag Warning is in effect until tomorrow (Thursday) night. And so overnight (Wednesday), we are expecting poor relative humidity recovery, meaning that it's going to remain dry overnight. Winds are going to subside after 10 p.m., so we are expecting lower winds. But overnight, it will remain dry, the fire will remain active more than it has over the last few evenings. And then tomorrow (Thursday), we're expecting another day of gusty winds and those red flag conditions.
On the primary focus of firefighters efforts and resources at this time
On the east side of the fire, firefighters are focusing efforts from Greenville north around Lake Almanor and the communities on Highway 89 and building contingency lines north of that.
That involves direct fire line construction on an active fire perimeter and then building contingency lines further away from the fire. We're doing structure protection, which involves cleaning out around structures and properties, trying to widen roads from dry vegetation, and removing that vegetation and then also using aerial resources to drop retardant and water to basically make it more difficult for those fields to burn.
