VIDEO BLOG: California Wildfires
Latest on the various fires ravaging the region
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA (KYMA, KECY/CBS) - Greenville's main road was in smoldering ruins on Thursday, hours after the state's largest wildfire engulfed the historic, gold-rush town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
About 160 miles north of Sacramento, fire crews were still working on Thursday to extinguish Greenville after the Dixie Fire roared through on the previous night.
The Dixie Fire has been raging in the area for three weeks, burning 322,000 acres, and was 35% contained as of Thursday morning. It was only one of 12 wildfires burning throughout the Golden State.
Cal Fire spokesperson Mitch Matlow said it is still unclear how many structures have been destroyed. Fortunately, no injuries or deaths have been reported while on his watch.
Crews continued a running battle with the Dixie Fire in the burning neighborhoods of Greenville and to the northwest in Chester early Thursday. They tried to save what homes and structures they could, while making sure residents were able to escape the wall of flames.
The flames marched into the Lassen Volcanic National Park Thursday. This forced rangers to evacuate campers and shut down access in the park.
The River Fire began Wednesday at a campground in Colfax. Have already burned 2,400 acres, none of it has been contained as of Thursday.
Placer County tweeted this video with the headline, "It has been nearly 24 hours since the River Fire broke out at the Bear River Campground in Colfax. Our firefighters have been working around the clock to battle this blaze. This is what it looks like behind the fire lines."
These wildfires' ferocity can even be seen by satellites. They have generated a towering plume of smoke and flames visible from space.