Firefighters Use Backfires as California’s Mega Blaze Grows

The Dixie Fire, California’s largest wildfire, swelled to 208,206 acres Tuesday, an area that’s a little bigger than New York City.

The blaze located that’s burning about 250 miles northeast of San Francisco is 23% contained, the U.S. Forest Service said.

The number of structures destroyed increased to 31, with seven structures damaged, officials said. Fourteen other minor structures were also damaged.

These numbers are expected to increase as crews conduct damage assessments on the ground. There are 10,721 structures threatened. No deaths or injuries have been reported.

The eastern edge of the fire remains the most active section, and on Monday night, fire behavior analyst Dennis Burns gave an update on this area of the blaze.