Thunderstorms with light rain kept some air from crews struggling to put out the massive California wildfires, but lightning sparked several new fires in the drought-prone northern region, firefighters said.

Up to a half inch of rain fell on parts of Dixie Fire, which started in mid-July and has gutted major parts of northern Sierra Nevada and the Southern Cascade.

The rain soaked and dampened the vegetation and will cool the fire for a day or two, which fire officials hoped to use to amplify and expand the lines of the fire to eventually surround the blaze, the fire department said.

“once the sun gets on it, the wind’s blowing on it, it eventually is going to pick up again and dry off enough and it’s going to start running again,”Tony Brownell

Rain held back the fire but “once the sun gets on it, the wind’s blowing on it, it eventually is going to pick up again and dry off enough and it’s going to start running again,” said Tony Brownell, operations manager with the California Division of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Lightning strikes have sparked at least 17 fires, the fire department said.

The river fire started on August 4 at a Placer County campsite and was stopped on August 13.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

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The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is a fire department of the California Natural Resources Agency in California, United States. (wikipedia)


Dixie Fire

The Dixie Fire is an active wildfire in Butte, Plumas and Lassen Counties, California. It is named after the road where it started. (wikipedia)


August Complex fire

The August Complex was a massive wildfire that burned in the Coast Range of Northern California, in Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Tehama, Trinity, and Shasta Counties. (wikipedia)


CZU Lightning Complex fires

The CZU Lightning Complex fires were wildfires that burned in Northern California starting in August 2020. The fire complex consisted of fires in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, (wikipedia)


Gavin Newsom

Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician and businessman serving as the 40th governor of California since January 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, (wikipedia)


California wildfires

This is a partial and incomplete list of California wildfires. California has dry, windy, (wikipedia)


Caldor Fire

The Caldor Fire is an active wildfire burning in El Dorado County, California, about 15 miles southeast of Placerville. By August 31, 2021, it had burned more than 191, (wikipedia)


Weather

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, (wikipedia)


Joe Biden

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, (wikipedia)

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Thomas Fire

The Thomas Fire was a massive wildfire that affected Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and one of multiple wildfires that ignited in southern California in December 2017. (wikipedia)


2017 California wildfires

In terms of property damage, 2017 was the most destructive wildfire season on record in California at the time, surpassed by only the 2018 season, with a total of 9,560 fires burning 1,548, (wikipedia)