At least a dozen wildfires, some over 100,000 acres, are burning in Northern California.

The biggest and most active fires right now are the Beckwourth Complex in the Plumas National Forest (105,348 acres), Tamarack Fire near Markleeville (18,299 acres) and Dixie Fire near Paradise (15,074 acres).

The Beckwourth Complex Fire 50 miles north of Tahoe is the largest wildfire of the year so far in California, and on Thursday, it became the state's first megafire of 2021. That's a wildfire surpassing 100,000 acres.

Megafires used to be rare, but they're becoming more and more common, especially in California, which has been hit repeatedly by extreme weather events, including heat waves, drought and dry lightning. These humongous fires were rare in California before 2003 — but 17 of the 20 largest fires in the state’s history have occurred since then, according to state data.

Story Date: July 24, 2021