Upper Lake — founded in 1854, a red archway in town announces — lies just beyond the checkpoint to the evacuation zone, which is managed by the National Guard and the Highway Patrol. Upper Lake was settled by two Anglo-Americans who had helped lead a revolt against Mexican rule in nearby Sonoma, a nugget of history written on the back of the postcards Mr. Lynch has stacked on the front counter. Upper Lake’s main street is a line of Old West-style storefronts, and with the evacuation of most residents, the place had the feel of a ghost town. Mr. Lynch described the area as economically depressed, and a place where people like to be left alone by the government. And even amid a devastating fire season and news reports about rising temperatures, there is plenty of skepticism over climate change. “Millions of years ago, I’m sure they had fires that raged and raged for months — it just so happens that we are in one of those cycles,” Mr. Lynch said. Other residents have stayed behind because they are worried about looters, concerned that they would return to find “their back doors kicked in,” he said. As he spoke, one of his regulars, Steve Lugger, came in to buy cat litter. “I’m the last living one in my family, and I just wanted to live in my house,” said Mr. Lugger, 68. “And I have 12 cats to take care of.” Lucerne, 10:56 a.m. On a normal day, you can see clear across the lake, where almost every weekend there is a bass fishing tournament. But the fires have brought a thick haze of smoke.<doc-sep>The Mendocino Complex fire is now the largest wildfire in modern California history, scorching more than 283,000 acres and frustrating firefighters as it continues to leap across natural and man-made barriers in Lake County. The Ranch and River fires, which make up the complex fire, had grown to 283,800 acres as of Monday evening, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The blaze was only 30% contained. “We broke the record,” said Scott McLean, a deputy chief with Cal Fire. “That’s one of those records you don’t want to see.” The blaze surpassed the Thomas fire, which burned through more than 281,000 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties late last year. Advertisement Officials said the Mendocino Complex fire has continued to grow by thousands of acres each day, even at night, when most fires normally calm down. The Mendocino Complex fire perimeter Monday morning covered more than 273,000 acres. (Jon Schleuss / Los Angeles Times) The fire has prompted evacuations in Mendocino, Lake and Colusa counties, but it has been less destructive to property than some of the other dozen-plus wildfires burning across the state because it continues to rage in remote areas. Firefighters treated the Ranch and River fires as one event, even though the two fire never actually merged. One burned on the west side of Clear Lake, the other on the north and east side. But the fire’s sheer size and rate of spread is the latest signal of a remarkable fire year for California. Full coverage: California’s summer siege of wildfires » “It is extremely fast, extremely aggressive, extremely dangerous,” McLean said. “Look how big it got, just in a matter of days.… Look how fast this Mendocino Complex went up in ranking. That doesn’t happen. That just doesn’t happen.” Years of drought have created ripe conditions for large-scale wildfires that spread rapidly. Of the five largest wildfires in state history, four have occurred since 2012. Advertisement Wine country was devastated last October with the most destructive fires in state history, destroying thousands of homes and killing dozens. There are 18 large wildfires burning across California, scarring a combined 559,000 acres, officials have said. In Redding, the Carr fire has claimed seven lives and more than 1,000 homes while growing to 163,207 acres in size, making the deadly blaze now the 12th largest wildfire in state history, Cal Fire officials said in a statement. Firefighters working overnight Sunday increased containment on the Carr fire to 45%, officials said during a Monday morning news briefing. The blaze chewed through about 3,000 more acres overnight as crews continued to build up containment lines, Cal Fire said. Rescue crews there have been repeatedly hamstrung by intense heat and difficult terrain. The fire jumped the Sacramento River more than a week ago and raced into subdivisions in western Redding. Advertisement Officials said Monday that shifting winds, steep canyons and rocky terrain on the fire’s northern edge along the Shasta and Trinity county border have made it difficult to attack the flames on the ground. Bulldozers have scraped in defensive lines miles to the north and east, far from the fire’s edge. With Trinity Lake providing a natural barrier that has slowed the fire’s advance to the northwest, crews will spend the next several days tightening that perimeter until they find a position to make a final stand, officials said. A high-pressure system moving into the area Monday could help with that effort, meteorologist Alex Hoon said during Monday’s briefing. While that will create poor air quality for firefighters and virtually every community around the blaze, it also means the fire will be starved of the oxygen it needs to grow, he said. Advertisement “This is pretty much the best weather conditions we can ask for, for the beginning part of August. The fire’s not going to get up and move,” Hoon said. The Carr fire has proved to be the deadliest in the state this year, claiming the lives of four residents, a Redding firefighter, a private bulldozer operator and a Pacific Gas & Electric utility worker. Fire officials are also concerned about the growth of the Donnell fire, which has spread to 12,000 acres since it ignited last week in the Stanislaus National Forest. The fire began along the Stanislaus River and has triggered mandatory evacuations, but like several other blazes around the state, the fire is in steep terrain that has made containment efforts difficult, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Forest Service. The blaze was only at 1% containment as of Sunday night. As the fires raged in Northern California, meteorologists issued red flag warnings in the Los Angeles area, where temperatures will reach the triple digits in several neighborhoods and cities early in the week. Advertisement Woodland Hills could see a high of 108, while Santa Clarita and Burbank could all see the mercury rise above 100 before Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Farther north, other cities that could experience 100-degree-plus heat are Ojai in Ventura County and Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo County. 1 / 62 Cattle graze on the grassland near the Ranch fire outside of Lodoga. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 62 A man fishes in Clear Lake as the smoky haze shrouds visibility in Clearlake Oaks. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 62 A plume of smoke rises from the Mendocino Complex fire near Lodoga. The Mendocino Complex Fire, which is made up of the River Fire and Ranch Fire, has surpassed the Thomas Fire to become the largest wildfire in California state history with over 300,000 acres charred. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images) 4 / 62 Firefighters battling the Mendocino Complex blaze monitor a burn operation on top of a ridge near the town of Ladoga on Aug. 7. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 62 Crews battling the Mendocino Complex fire supervise a burn operation near the town of Ladoga on Aug. 7. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 62 Firefighters keep an eye on a burn operation as part of the battle against the Mendocino Complex blaze on Aug. 7. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 62 Arnold Lasker looks over the remains of his girlfriend’s house in Spring Valley, near Clearlake Oaks, on Aug. 7. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 8 / 62 Evacuated during the Ranch fire, Jay Michael and Gretchen Fritsch rest in their car in the parking lot of the Moose Lodge in Clearlake Oaks on Aug. 7. This is the eighth time they have been evacuated since living in the area, and the third time this year. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 9 / 62 Burned out cars sit in the remains of a home that was destroyed by the Medocino Complex fire in Clearlake Oaks, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 62 A sign warns people to stay out of a burned area in Clearlake Oaks, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 62 Helicopters enroute to pick up water at the Mendocino Complex fire in Clearlake Oaks, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 62 A Buddha statue is seen at a burned home in Spring Valley, near Clearlake Oaks, Calif. (JOSH EDELSON / AFP/Getty Images) 13 / 62 Image taken from the International Space Station shows the wildfires burning in Calif. In the upper left portion of the image is the Carr and Mendocino Complex fires and to the right is the Ferguson fire. (ALEXANDER GERST / AFP/Getty Images) 14 / 62 Crystal Easter comforts her dogs in Spring Valley as they flee a wildfire. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat) 15 / 62 Crystal Easter uses a pot of water to put out spot fires around her home, as her neighbor’s home burns in the background in Spring Valley. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat) 16 / 62 Jim Bolander hoses down the roof of his home for the sixth time in eight years as the Ranch fire spreads in Spring Valley.<doc-sep>Thinning can help reduce fire severity by limiting fuel, Stewart said, but the president’s tweet misses an important nuance. In a report published in the journal BioScience in January, Stewart and his colleagues found that thinning happens more frequently on private land — which falls under California’s jurisdiction — than on federal land, which is managed by the Forest Service. In addition, “the rates of mortality from fire, insects, and disease are about three times as high on national forest lands as they are on private lands regulated under California’s strict environmental laws,” he said.<doc-sep>
The Mendocino Complex wildfire exploded overnight to become the second-largest blaze in California history, at about 425 square miles. That's larger than 18 Manhattan Islands and roughly one-third the size of the state of Rhode Island. The fire has destroyed about 140 structures and threatens thousands more, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). It's only 30 percent contained. “It is extremely fast, extremely aggressive, extremely dangerous,” Scott McLean, a deputy chief with Cal Fire, told the Los Angeles Times. “Look how big it got, just in a matter of days. … Look how fast this Mendocino Complex went up in ranking. That doesn’t happen. That just doesn’t happen.” The fire is on pace to become the largest in state history. It's behind 2017's Thomas Fire by only a few thousand acres. The Mendocino Complex fire is actually two fires – the River and Ranch Fires – that have grown together to create one gigantic fire. According to Cal Fire, the Ranch Fire continues to grow in the northern and southeastern directions, "threatening communities in the fire's path." Mandatory evacuations are in place for areas in Lake, Colusa and Mendocino Counties. More:Global heat, fires and floods: How much did climate change fuel that hellish July? That fire joins the list of massive wildfires scorching California and the western USA. There are at least 18 fires burning in California and 100 fires burning in the USA, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, which said 28,000 firefighters are battling the fires across the nation. California's Carr Fire, which has killed seven people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes, is 43 percent contained, Cal Fire said. At 255 square miles burned, it's the 15th-largest and sixth-most-destructive fire in state history. The blaze has done about $98.3 million in damage to roads, bridges, utilities and other public facilities in Shasta County. Saturday, the Trump administration declared Shasta County the scene of a major disaster. The presidential declaration opens the door to a variety of assistance programs for the community. Another wildfire, known as the Ferguson Fire, had burned more than 140 square miles near Yosemite National Park as of Sunday. Two people have died in that fire, which is 38 percent contained, according to the Weather Channel. A portion of the national park, which has been closed since last week, is likely to remain closed indefinitely. The weather will offer no relief this week as high heat and low relative humidity will plague firefighters each afternoon and evening, AccuWeather said. High temperatures will remain above 100 degrees each day for much of California, except along the coast. UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said about half of the increase in recent California wildfires can be blamed on the extreme warmth fueled by human-caused climate change. He said other factors include homes built in high-risk fire areas. "We've put a lot of people and a lot of stuff in harm's way," Swain said. Contributing: The Record Searchlight in Redding, California