The Dixie Fire started in a remote part of Plumas County and has relentlessly marched through homes in its path, including one belonging to a firefighter.
Bureau of Land Management helicopter attack firefighter Michael Hambrick was at his home for 30 minutes before he had to leave.
“I saw about a 40-foot flame wall coming,” Hambrick said. “I had sprinklers running, I had water running and it got to the deck. My windows, the backsliders started to shatter and it was time to go.” Hambrick and other firefighters went back to a staging area. He returned to the neighborhood a few hours later — not to survey what was left of his home — to save his neighbors’ homes, which were in jeopardy.