At least eight people were missing today as one of the worst wildfires in the US scorched through Northern California communities.
Even as the calmer, less windy weather gave firefighters abreak overnight with the Dixie fire, the third largest fire in the Pacific coastal state's history, the Pulmas County Sheriff's Office released the somber news.
"We have received reports of eight unaccounted for individuals," the sheriff's office said in a statement, asking for the public's help in finding them.
Five of the missing belong to the old mining town of Greenville where blazes levelled most of its downtown, about 250km north of Sacramento.
Greenville, with a population 800, was founded more than 150 years ago when nearby gold mines attracted settlers and merchants to the picturesque town in the Indian Valley.
Most of its downtown was left in ashes. More than 184 structures were destroyed in the town and across the area.
Over 1,700 square kilometres have already burned in the Dixie fire and it was 21% contained by mid afternoon, said Edwin Zuniga, a firefighter and spokesman for Cal Fire, the combined firefighting agencies battling the blaze.
"We're hoping to gain ground," Mr Zuniga said. "There are favourable weather conditions, with less wind and a blanket of smoke that blocks direct sunlight. It allows a higher humidity which helps us."
Earlier in the week the fire was reported as 35% contained, but better mapping clarified the area, officials said.
The cause of the fire is listed as unknown but remains under investigation.
A long-term drought that scientists say is driven by climate change has left the western United States parched and vulnerable to explosive and highly destructive fires.
By late July, the number of acres burned in California was up more than 250% from 2020, which was the worst year of wildfires in the state's modern history.
The Dixie Fire has evoked painful memories of the Paradise Fire, the deadliest blaze in California's recent history.
Faulty power lines sparked that inferno, which swept through the northern town of Paradise in 2018, killing 86 people. Pacific Gas and Electric, California's largest energy utility firm, was deemed responsible.
PG&E equipment is again being blamed for the Dixie Fire, after a tree fell on a power conductor the day the blaze began.
The utility announced in late July it will bury 6,000 kilometres of power lines in a massive bid to prevent its equipment from igniting more deadly wildfires.
Greenville itself is no stranger to fire disasters. A catastrophic blaze destroyed much of the town in 1881, and several major infernos have threatened residents in the intervening 140 years.
