Fire from the Bootleg Fire illuminates smoke at night near Bly, Oregon on July 16, 2021. (Photo: Agencies)
LOS ANGELES - A wildfire raging in Northern California continued to grow as of Tuesday and threatened more than 800 structures, officials said.
The blaze, dubbed Dixie Fire, had burned 59,984 acres (242.8 square km) and was 15 percent contained, according to the latest information from Inciweb Tuesday noon, an interstate incident information system, noting over 800 structures remained threatened and two structures had been destroyed.
The fire, sparked July 13 in Butte County, is not far from the site of 2018's devastating Camp Fire, which killed at least 85 people and reduced the town of Paradise to ashes. It prompted evacuations to many small communities located in nearby mountain regions.
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday announced that state had secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help ensure the availability of vital resources to suppress the Dixie Fire burning in Butte and Plumas Counties.
The FMAG, which is provided through the President's Disaster Relief Fund on a cost-share basis, will enable local, state and tribal agencies responding to the fire to apply for 75-percent reimbursement of their eligible fire suppression costs.
"Currently, 2,409 fire personnel are assigned to combat the Dixie Fire along with 141 engines, 63 hand crews, 49 bulldozers and 23 helicopters. Plumas and Butte counties' Emergency Operations Centers have been activated and Cal OES staff are on site to support local agencies as they respond to the emergency," a statement issued by the governor's office read.
