REDDING, Calif._A massive pair of fires burning on either side of Clear Lake, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, exploded to nearly 230,000 acres Saturday night, making it one of the largest on record in California and the most pressing of 17 large wildfires across the state.
The Mendocino Complex fire, as it's called, consists of two separate conflagrations that had consumed more than 229,000 acres by Saturday afternoon and had forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
The fire had burned dozens of homes and was now the sixth-largest blaze on record in California. The largest is last year's Thomas fire, which burned 281,000 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
Farther north near Redding, residents began returning to neighborhoods ravaged by the Carr fire, which has killed six people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes.
More than 4,500 firefighters stationed in two Shasta County base camps have battled the 140,000-acre blaze for nearly two weeks, facing triple-digit temperatures, winds up to 30 mph and desert-dry air.
Fire officials confirmed Saturday that the massive blaze was sparked by a flat tire, according to news reports.
California Gov. Jerry Brown visited the fire command center at the county fairgrounds on Saturday. Increased, year-round fire activity was "the new normal" for the state, he said. The governor said he had asked President Donald Trump to issue a major disaster declaration to aid the firefighting and recovery effort.
"He has done it in the past; I am confident he will do it again," Brown said.
The Carr fire _ which has affected communities around Whiskeytown Lake and the Sacramento River _ is moving into areas where it will be more difficult to control, fire behavior analyst Don Boursier said. Years of drought left California's forests more vulnerable, and so far this year the area around the Carr fire has seen 33 days of 100-degree temperatures, the National Weather Service said.
It hasn't rained in the Redding or Anderson areas in 71 days.
"The calendar is saying it's August, the fuel is telling us its September," Boursier told firefighters during a morning briefing.
The fire is now 41 percent contained and expected to burn north, deeper into Trinity County forest land around Blue Mountain, officials said.
On Saturday morning, incident leaders told firefighters that reinforcements were on the way, which should bring their total numbers to more than 5,000 within days. Two firefighters have been killed battling the blaze, along with four civilians.
The forecast for Saturday was a mixed bag for crews battling the Carr fire and the communities they're tasked with protecting.
To the west, winds were expected to intermittently push the fire back onto itself, allowing crews ahead of it to conduct burn operations to rob the fire of vegetation it needs to grow. At the same time, residents have been slowly allowed to return home as the fire's southeastern flank closest to neighborhoods is being contained.
But the blaze's northern face _ where it's burning in gulches, along steep canyon faces and on rocky ground difficult to access _ is another story.
There, conditions were expected to clear up in the afternoon. "That's going to open up, remove the smoke, expose the fire to that air. It's going to take a deep breath and it's going to start to move on us," Boursier said.
The large wildfires burning in the state have scorched more than 450,000 acres, displaced around 40,000 residents and are being fought by more than 14,000 firefighters from around the state and country.
A red flag warning took effect in Shasta County on Thursday night, and officials expected strong winds from the west and north to continue through Saturday night, National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Dang said. Temperatures are expected to be slightly cooler over the weekend, possibly dipping into the 80s, but humidity will stay low and air quality will continue to suffer.
The Ferguson fire near Yosemite National Park had burned 77,207 acres and was 41 percent contained as of Friday evening. Yosemite Valley has been closed since July 25.
