Eight people are missing and thousands evacuated as Dixie Fire tears through California becoming the largest active wildfire in the US burning through 446K acres

At least eight people have been reported missing and thousands have been told to evacuate as the Dixie Fire continues to tear through California. 

The raging wildfire grew to become the largest active fire burning in the US and the third largest ever in state history - and it continued to grow further overnight.

More than 446,723 acres in four counties have now been ravaged by the blaze as it continues to burn for 23 days straight.

This is an increase on the previous day's 434,813 acres charred with the fire still spreading across Plumas, Butte, Tehama and Lassen counties.

The area destroyed is now larger than Los Angeles and bigger than the land ruined by the vast Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon.  

A firefighter lights backfires to slow the spread of the Dixie Fire Friday near the town of Greenville, California

A firefighter tries to slow the spread of the Dixie Fire Friday near Greenville where five people are missing 

Authorities said at least eight Northern Californians were unaccounted for Saturday in the towns and communities worst-affected by the blaze.  

Five of the missing are from Greenville - a small mountain town about 125 miles northwest of Reno, Nevada, that is home to just 1,000 people, reported Fox40.  

Plumas County Sheriff's Office identified them as Danny Sczenski, Jesus and Elena Gursasola, Matthew Henly and Glen Gallagher, as they urged for the public and the media's help in trying to find them alive.

The other people missing are Harold and Sally Brown in Crescent Mills and Donna Shelton in Chester. 

Officials said that 16 other people who had been reported missing had been found safe, with no known fatalities yet caused by the Dixie Fire.

Residents in Greenville were forced to evacuate to a makeshift camp at Lassen Community College in Susanville this week as the Dixie Fire left the Gold Rush town charred.  

Around 140 people took shelter in the college camp Wednesday and about 35 others at a nearby high school while firefighters battled the blaze. 

At least 91 buildings have been destroyed and five others damaged.  

Firefighters battling the Dixie Fire clear Highway 89 after a burned tree fell across the roadway in Plumas County

Dozens of burned vehicles rest in heavy smoke during the Dixie fire in Greenville Friday as the blaze continued to grow further overnight

Flames burn in a tree in the Canyondam area of Plumas County  Friday. At least eight people have been reported missing as the Dixie Fire continues to tear through California

Meanwhile, in the state capital of Sacramento, the plumes of smoke have led officials to warn of an 'unhealthy' air quaity. 

The fire has also burned through the small town of Canyondam but authorities were faced with some resistance from residents told to evacuate.  

As thousands were told to leave their homes, authorities were met at times by armed residents refusing to budge, the Los Angeles Times reported.

When that happens, cops are asking the residents for the names of next-of-kin - to be notified if the fire claims their lives. 

More than 5,000 fire and rescue crews are now battling the Dixie blaze, which is sending enormous clouds of smoke into the air that are easily visible from space. 

While the fire continued to swell overnight Friday, officials said Saturday that cooler, calmer weather was giving firefighters a much-needed break. 

Cooler temperatures and calmer winds moved into the area overnight in a boon to weary firefighters, the state agency Calfire said. 

A firefighter near the town of Greenville Friday. The area destroyed in the state is now larger than Los Angeles

The burned remains of a car in Greenville. More than 446,723 acres in four counties have now been ravaged by the blaze as it continues to burn for 23 days straight

Those conditions are expected to continue into Sunday. 

The fire, which is now 21 percent contained, started burning back on July 13. 

The Dixie Fire is now only smaller than two past multi-fire conflagrations that rocked California: the 2020 August Complex which burned over 1 million acres and the 2018 Mendocino Complex which burned more than 459,000 acres.

The Dixie Fire's movement northeastward has been slowed in part because it has reached what the CalFire website calls the 'scar' of an earlier blaze, the 2007 Moonlight Fire, reducing available fuel. 

By late July, the number of acres burned in California was up more than 250 percent from 2020 - already the worst year of wildfires in the state's modern history.

The wildfires have been blamed on a long-term drought that has left the area vulnerable to explosive and highly destructive fires and which scientists say is driven by climate change.  

A firefighter tackles the blaze in Greenville. The raging wildfire grew to become the largest active fire burning in the US and the third largest ever in state history

Greenville has been largely destroyed by the ferocious Dixie Fire which has burned for 23 days