California wildfire flares but within line crews have built

California’s largest wildfire so far this year is flaring up, but authorities say it's because flames are chewing through unburned islands of vegetation within a perimeter that firefighters have built

PARADISE, Calif. -- California’s largest wildfire so far this year was flaring up Friday but it was because the flames were chewing through unburned islands of vegetation within a perimeter that firefighters have built, authorities said. The Dixie Fire covered 376 square miles (974 square kilometers) in the mountains of Northern California where 42 homes and other buildings have been destroyed and more than 10,000 are still threatened. The vegetation burning inside the fire on Thursday produced a huge “fire cloud," towering columns of smoke and ash that can pose a danger to firefighters. Residents were given assurances that it had been expected and would happen again but did not mean crews were losing control they have on the fire. “There's nothing close to our line right now. It's all interior fuels burning,” Mike Wink, an incident commander, said in an online briefing.