As the Dixie fire has burned through Northern California over the past month, the city of Susanville in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada has become a refuge. Panicked residents of evacuated communities, including the devastated town of Greenville about an hour and a half away, have sought shelter at a local community college. Firefighters have set up a base camp at the city’s fairgrounds, where large animals are being kept to protect them from the fire. Now, with winds picking up on Tuesday, there are growing concerns that Susanville itself is under threat from the blaze, the second-largest on record in California, which grew by about 40,000 acres overnight. With a population of 15,000, Susanville — an old saw mill town that long ago became a prison town, with two state prisons and a federal facility in the region — is the largest community yet to fall in the fire’s path.

Source: New York Times August 17, 2021 20:33 UTC