California wildfire updates: Incoming winds could whip up Dixie Fire, while Tamarack dies down

Fire crews are preparing for returning heightened fire activity at the Dixie Fire after a few days of relative calm.

In a Sunday morning update, interagency fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns said that although the fire, burning in Plumas and Butte counties, hasn’t grown much this weekend, conditions could soon change.

“What we’re concerned about is we’re going into a warmer, drier period, a period very similar to when this fire first ignited,” Burns said. “So we’re trying to get everything buttoned up, because we’re looking at some very significant fire potential in the next few days.”

The fire started July 14, potentially sparked by PG&E equipment, and has burned 244,888 acres, an increase of about 4,000 overnight. Crews bumped up containment from 24% on Saturday to 32% Sunday morning, taking advantage of relatively slow fire spread.

As conditions in Northern California dry out, Forest Service officials say west winds could start developing later Sunday, meaning that firefighters will have to be on the lookout for embers and spot fires.

In the meantime, “fire crews continue to construct and reinforce control lines,” Forest Service officials wrote Sunday.

Cal Fire operations section chief Mike Wink said although there was some fire activity on its western flank, no structures were damaged or destroyed overnight in the Lotts Lake area. The Forest Service said that cabins at Rush Creek are protected behind control lines and crews completed firing operations at Burton Ridge overnight.

A total of 67 structures have been destroyed by the fire, and nine more have been damaged. The Associated Press reported that the small town of Indian Falls accounted for more than half of those losses.

On Saturday, as firefighters strengthened containment on the west side of the fire, some Butte and Plumas county residents were allowed to return home after weeks of evacuation. Many areas of Plumas County and some parts of northeastern Butte County remain under evacuation orders. Highways 36, 70 and 89 are closed in the area of the fire.

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