Dixie Fire Has Now Grown to Over a Quarter-Million Acres in Size

Ash is falling like snow in Quincy and other parts of Plumas County

The Dixie Fire burns along the Feather River on July 26, 2021 near Quincy, California. The Dixie Fire, currently the largest wildfire in California, has burned nearly 200,000 acres and destroyed at least 20 structures. The fire is 22 percent contained. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Dixie Fire, a possibly PG&E-caused blaze that less than two weeks ago was three times the size of San Francisco, has exploded as on-site firefighter crews continue to battle the inferno. With just 35% of the fire contained — which is a notable improvement from the 15% it was just at the time of our last report — the fire has grown to over 253,000 as of Tuesday afternoon. And it’s now around eight times the size of San Francisco.

The Dixie Fire Is Now Almost Three Times the Size of San Francisco

At the moment, the fire has destroyed 67 structures, damaged another 9, and put more than 7,000 structures under threat; over 5,100 personnel are presently battling the fire, and Evacuation orders are mounding, too, with residents of the nearby community of Chester given evacuation orders. There are currently another two dozen-plus evacuation orders and warnings in effect due to the Dixie Fire; these can be found toward the bottom of CAL FIRE’s incident report for the blaze.