At the Scene of the Dixie Fire

GREENVILLE — After the Dixie fire tore through this remote mountain town, Mike Savala heard that his home was, miraculously, still standing. He did not know the fate of his two cats.

“I had the cops lift my window up so they could get out, but I hope they did,” he told me Sunday, as he gingerly opened the door to his home for the first time since evacuating four days earlier.

The animals were nowhere to be found.

Savala, 40, a fire engine captain, is among hundreds of residents in the rural communities affected by the Dixie fire, some of whom are beginning to try to put the pieces of their lives back together, even while remaining in a state of limbo under hazy skies and persistent evacuation orders.

Late last week, I traveled to the northeast part of California to cover the fire, which by Wednesday, had razed more than 500,000 acres and become the second largest in state history. I arrived early in the morning under a thick cloud of smoke to Quincy, a town 160 miles north of Sacramento.

Some in the town are camped out in trailers while others are holding out on nearby ranches, or in the dense forest — anguished by the prospect of leaving their homes, land and, in some cases, the animals that are their livelihood.

“You wonder from day to day what is going to happen next,” said Shiwaya Peck, an elder of the local Native American Maidu community, who has remained at her home in an evacuated area near Taylorsville, another small town near the blaze.

“I don’t want to see my grandpa’s trees burned up,” she told me as she stood in her garden among the fir and cedar giants.

On the frontline of the blaze, weary, soot-covered firefighters who are working grueling two-week shifts say they are understaffed and exhausted. Some of the work involves fighting fire with fire as crews burn containment lines in cooler weather at night. Others stamp out spot fires and embers. Some hike tens of miles for several hours a day: Their only weapons to battle the fire are the tools they carry on their backs.

“We’re all very tired,” said Matt Sanders, 40, a fire engine captain. Of the fire season, he added, “I have no doubt in my mind that it’s just getting started.”

As of Wednesday, the Dixie fire was 30 percent contained, and hot dry conditions meant it showed no signs of abating. Several other smaller fires were also burning across California — where the fire season is growing in length every year, according to Cal Fire.

Just miles from Quincy, the fire front can be seen creeping down the mountainside, plumes of smoke rising above it. When the sun emerges, so does an atmosphere of anxiety: The layer of smoke holding the flames at bay lifts, allowing conditions for the fire to worsen.

For those experiencing the Dixie fire, it can be hard to believe their bucolic mountain communities have been transformed into a hazy-skied disaster zone, where the roads in and out are blocked.

“I didn’t think this would happen, and then it was gone,” Savala said over the weekend, as he surveyed the destruction in Greenville. The last I heard, he had still not found his cats.

For more:

• The Native American Maidu community is fighting to protect their land from the Dixie fire. Read more about their efforts.

• For decades, California was defined by its lovely weather. So what happens when it’s gone? The Times opinion columnist Farhad Manjoo explores what drought, fires and heat waves mean for the state’s future.

• You can keep up with natural disasters around the world with our extreme weather briefing.

This dispatch from the Dixie fire came from Livia Albeck-Ripka, a reporter for The New York Times, currently based in California. Thank you, Livia, for taking us there.

If you read one story, make it this

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that schoolteachers and school staff members in California must have proof of vaccination against Covid-19 or else face weekly testing. The new policy, which goes into effect today, applies to educators in public and private schools.

California is the first in the nation to issue a vaccine mandate specifically for all educators, my colleague Jill Cowan reports.

The rest of the news

California

• Solar mandate: California regulators voted Wednesday to require builders to include solar power and battery storage in many new commercial structures as well as high-rise residential projects, the latest initiative in the state’s vigorous efforts to hasten a move away from fossil fuels.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

• Center for sex-trafficking victims: A former San Diego strip club will be replaced with a new nonprofit called the Freedom Center, which will serve as a resource for sex-trafficking victims, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

• Fines on illegal grows: A new ordinance in San Bernardino County levies increased fines on those convicted of illegal cannabis cultivation. The county’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the law on Tuesday to curb marijuana growing in rural areas, The Desert Sun reports.

• New job opportunities: Los Angeles County officials voted Tuesday to allow the county to hire noncitizens to lead county agencies, which hadn’t been previously allowed, reports The Los Angeles Times. Immigrants who lack legal status remain ineligible to work for the county.

• Water recycling: An improperly functioning Los Angeles sewage treatment plant has been impacting the region’s ability to recycle water for the past month, The Los Angeles Times reports. As a result, millions of gallons of clean drinking water have been diverted amid a worsening drought.

CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

• Vaccinations: In Fresno County and the Central Valley, Covid-19 vaccination rates are considerably lower than in the rest of the state. The Fresno Bee looks at who hasn’t been vaccinated yet.

• Emergency rooms: Emergency rooms in the Sacramento area are inundated, but many patients are arriving just to be tested for Covid, according to The Sacramento Bee.

• Fresno police: Fresno Police Department officials announced they’re pulling officers out of the city’s middle schools to focus on violent crime elsewhere, The Fresno Bee reports.

• Fresno Diocese: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fresno has released a list of over 60 priests who have been accused of sexual misconduct against minors and young adults, according to The Fresno Bee.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

• Air quality warning: The skies could be smoky and hazy Thursday in the Bay Area because of smoke from wildfires in Northern California and Oregon, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

• Stanford Covid testing: Stanford University has mandated that students living in university-owned housing submit to weekly Covid-19 tests, regardless of vaccination status, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. It is one of few universities to adopt such a policy.

• Cliff House: San Francisco’s famed Cliff House will temporarily reopen for a pop-up museum showcasing artifacts from the building’s history, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

What we’re eating

It takes only 10 minutes to make a bowl of these comforting, takeout-style sesame noodles.

Where we’re traveling

Today’s California travel tip comes from Anne Anderson, a reader who lives in Santa Barbara. Anne writes:

We love to take visitors to La Purisima Mission State Historic Park in Lompoc. You reach it along Hwy 246 from the 101 so you can stop off at wineries along the way. The site reconstructs the conflicted and tragic history of habitation in this area, including Chumash settlements, a reconstructed presidio with weaving, ironwork and other workshops and one of the most fully restored of the California missions.

Tell us about the best spots to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We’ll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter.

And before you go, some good news

A woman in San Mateo hearing quacking sounds coming from a nearby storm drain led to the rescue of 10 ducklings who had been trapped inside. The baby ducks reunited with their mother, who had been pacing nearby.