‘Next 24 hours critical’, as crews battle largest wildfire in US

Strong winds are complicating US firefighters’ battle against California’s Dixie Fire, less than one-third contained.

Firefighters in the United States faced dangerously windy weather as they struggled to keep the nation’s largest wildfire from moving towards a Northern California city and other small mountain communities. Forecasters issued red flag warnings of critical fire weather conditions on Tuesday, including gusts up to 64 kilometres per hour (40 miles per hour) from late morning to near midnight. The warnings came after the Dixie Fire grew explosively from winds spawned by a new weather system that arrived on Monday afternoon.