California's Mendocino Wildfire Becomes Largest In State's Modern History

On Monday night, California-state authorities reported the current Mendocino wildfire is now the largest fire in the state’s modern history. The blaze has destroyed more than 283,800 acres, an area almost as big as Los Angeles. Firefighter units say the wildfire is just 30% contained and predict it will be fully contained by Aug. 15. Huffington Post’s Nina Golgowski and Nick Visser have additional details below.

“We broke the record,” Scott McLean, a deputy chief of Cal Fire, told the Los Angeles Times. “That’s one of those records you don’t want to see.”

“It is extremely fast, extremely aggressive, extremely dangerous,” he said. “Look how fast this Mendocino Complex went up in ranking. That doesn’t happen. That just doesn’t happen.”

Last year’s Thomas fire, which consumed 281,000 acres in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, is now the state’s second-largest on record. The Cedar fire in 2003, now the third-largest, devoured 273,246 acres in San Diego County, according to Cal Fire records. The city of Los Angeles, by comparison, is about 300,000 acres.