Photo taken on Aug. 5, 2021 shows an area hit by a wildfire dubbed Dixie Fire in Lassen National Forest, Northern California, the United States.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

A firefighter battles against a wildfire dubbed Dixie Fire in Lassen National Forest, Northern California, the United States, on Aug. 5, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

A helicopter flies to battle against a wildfire dubbed Dixie Fire in Lassen National Forest, Northern California, the United States, on Aug. 5, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

 

Smoke rises from a wildfire dubbed Dixie Fire in Lassen National Forest, Northern California, the United States, on Aug. 5, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
A fast-moving wildfire in the western U.S. state of California had grown to the largest one so far this year in the country on Friday.

The massive fire, dubbed Dixie Fire, had burned 434,813 acres (around 175,963 hectares) and was only 21 percent contained as of Friday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

Official data showed that the area scorched by the fire grew by around 100,000 acres (around 40,469 hectares) in 24 hours from Thursday morning to Friday morning.

The fire, which started on July 13, was also the third largest wildfire in California's history, only behind 2020's August Complex Fire and 2018's Mendocino Complex Fire. It was only the 11th largest wildfire in the history of California on Tuesday and exploded to become the sixth largest in the state's history on Thursday.

The previous largest wildfire in the United States this year was the Bootleg Fire, which was partially contained and still burning in the state of Oregon, and remained at 413,765 acres (around 167,445 hectares) as of Friday.

In Dixie Fire's west zone, the blaze "remained very active overnight with warm temperatures, poor relative humidity recoveries, and strong overnight winds fueling fire behavior," said the Cal Fire in an update on Friday.

In the east zone, the fast-moving fire was expected to remain active and dynamic overnight, added the agency.

No casualties had been reported so far due to the Dixie Fire. But the fire, burning through multiple counties in Northern California, had destroyed at least 184 structures and forced thousands of local residents to evacuate. Around 5,200 firefighters were working to contain it.

According to Cal Fire, five of the top seven largest wildfires in the state's history, including the Dixie Fire, have occurred since 2020.

A total of 6,049 wildfires have burned a nearly estimated 580,000 acres (around 234,718 hectares) in California this year, according to the Cal Fire's 2021 Incident Archive. The state and most of the U.S. West are in the grip of a severe drought of historic proportions.

In 2020, over 9,900 fires burned over 4.2 million acres (around 1.7 million hectares), more than 4 percent of the state's roughly 100 million acres of land (around 40.5 million hectares), making it the largest wildfire season recorded in California's modern history. A total of 33 people were killed and 10,488 structures were damaged or destroyed by wildfires last year.

"While wildfires are a natural part of California's landscape, the fire season in California and across the West is starting earlier and ending later each year. Climate change is considered a key driver of this trend," said Cal Fire on its official website.

"Warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt create longer and more intense dry seasons that increase moisture stress on vegetation and make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire," the agency noted.

A total of 107 large fires had burned 2,083,667 acres (around 843,230 hectares) across the United States, the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center said Friday.

Eleven new large fires were reported Thursday, respectively in Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Washington, Montana and Wyoming, said the agency.