“That’s one of those records you don’t want to see.” The Ranch and River fires that make up the Mendocino Complex wildfire had grown to 283,800 acres by Monday evening, Cal Fire said in their latest update. LAKEPORT, Calif. – Twin Northern California blazes fueled by dry vegetation and hot, windy weather grew Monday to become the largest wildfire in state history, becoming the norm as climate change makes the fire season longer and more severe. On Monday, twin fires being treated as one incident north of San Francisco became the largest wildfire in state history, destroying 443 square miles (1,148 square kilometres) — nearly the size of the city of Los Angeles. The Mendocino Complex blaze — a conglomerate of the River and Ranch fires burning through rural Lake, Colusa and Mendocino counties — overtook last year’s Thomas Fire, which scorched more than 1,000 buildings and killed two people across 440 square miles in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Scott McLean, a deputy chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) described the wildfires as "extremely fast, extremely aggressive, extremely dangerous,"

"Look how big it got, just in a matter of days... Look how fast this Mendocino Complex went up in ranking. Tens of thousands of residents across California have been displaced by wildfires this season, Gov.
The Mendocino Complex Fire grows into the largest active wildfire in California history.