At least eight people are missing and thousands have been forced to flee their homes as a devastating wildfire continues to rage through California.
The Dixie Fire inferno has now grown to become the second largest recorded in the history of the US state.
As of Sunday it had grown to more than 463,000 acres, or 724 square miles, and was 21 per cent contained, according to state fire officials.
The burned area is larger than the city of Houston. Only the August Complex Fire of August 2020, which consumed more than 1 million acres, was bigger.
So far, no deaths have been put down to the wildfire but a number of people are missing.
"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 160 miles 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.
Nearly 447,000 acres have already burned in the Dixie fire and it was 21 percent 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," 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."
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Pacific Gas & Electric has said it may have started when a tree fell on one of the utility's power lines.
The wildfires have been blamed on a long-term drought which scientists say is driven by climate change.
It comes as Cop26 President Alok Sharma issued a stark warning that the world is getting 'dangerously close' to running out of time to stop a climate catastrophe.
In an interview with The Guardian he said failing to limit warming to 1.5C would be "catastrophic".
He said: "You're seeing on a daily basis what is happening across the world. Last year was the hottest on record, the last decade the hottest decade on record."
He said Cop26 "has to be the moment we get this right", adding: "We can't afford to wait two years, five years, 10 years - this is the moment.
"I don't think we're out of time but I think we're getting dangerously close to when we might be out of time."
