At least 16,500 people have had to flee their homes recently as yet another massive wildfire continues to grow. The evacuations are becoming an unwelcome routine in a region still recovering from the 2018 Camp Fire, which left 85 people in Paradise dead and is recorded as the deadliest wildfire in the Golden State's history.
The Dixie Fire was burning nearly 241,000 acres, or about 375 square miles, Saturday morning and was 24 per cent contained, according to the state's wildfire agency. It has destroyed at least 42 homes and threatens more than 10,000 others.
...Last week, the Dixie Fire fused with the nearby Fly Fire and leveled dozens of houses and other buildings through the small community of Indian Falls in Plumas County.
Officials believe that smoke columns created by the blaze could spawn lightning storms capable of igniting more blazes, similar to the Bootleg Fire, which has consumed more than 480,000 acres in Oregon.
...Pacific Gas and Electric Company told regulators this month that its equipment may have been responsible for sparking the flames. They were also responsible for the Camp Fire blaze that destroyed Paradise, 25 miles southeast from the current fire.
A preliminary investigation found that the Dixie Fire broke out after a tree fell on one of the thousands of power lines that dot the state's landscape. The cause of the Dixie Fire still remains under investigation.
The company filed an incident report on July 18. It recorded the account of an employee who claims they observed blown fuses in terrain off Highway 70 and 'a fire on the ground near the base of the tree,' which he then reported to his supervisor, who then called 911.
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