Winds drive nation's largest wildfire toward California city

SUSANVILLE, California: Gusty winds drove the nation's largest wildfire toward a Northern California county seat as firefighters struggled to contain the month-old blaze amid forecasts of more dangerous weather.

Afternoon winds gusting to 30 mph (48 kph) on Monday pushed the Dixie Fire within a few miles of Susanville and prompted evacuation orders for Janesville, a small nearby mountain community, fire officials said. Susanville, with about 18,000 people, is the county seat of Lassen County and the largest city that the blaze has approached. The former Sierra Nevada logging and mining town has two state prisons and a nearby federal lockup.