Photos: A million acres burned already as California enters peak fire season

Dixie fire

Firefighters clear away combustible material at the head of the Dixie fire near Janesville.

(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)

A pall of yellow smoke from the Dixie fire blankets the town of Susanville.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The Dixie fire burns in the mountains of Lassen County on Thursday.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Part of an evergreen tree explodes into a ball of flame as the Dixie fire burns near Janesville on Thursday.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A crew battles the Dixie fire in harsh terrain near Janesville on Thursday.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters watch a helicopter battle the Dixie fire as it burns through mountainous and forested terrain near Janesville on Thursday.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The monstrous Dixie fire — the second-largest in the state’s recorded history — has been burning for more than a month, and the danger zone now stretches from Lassen to Butte.

A DC-10 jumbo jet drops fire retardant on the Dixie fire.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Caldor fire

The Caldor fire in El Dorado County is at nearly 63,000 acres, with 0% containment. Thousands of rural residents have had to evacuate as flames tore through rugged terrain.

The Caldor fire left a moonscape of burned forest, homes and cars in Grizzly Flats.

( Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

The frame of a chair sits in the remains of a home in Grizzly Flats.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Burned trees surround a scorched intersection in the community of Grizzly Flats.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Embers fly from burning trees in a long-exposure image taken Aug. 17 on Mormon Emigrant Trail, east of Sly Park.

(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)

Jennifer Whitmore sprays her home with water as the Caldor fire burns near White Hall.

(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)

A sculpture rests in front of a destroyed Grizzly Flats home.

(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)

Dixie fire

A home burns Aug. 16 on Jeters Road as the fire jumped Highway 395 south of Janesville.

(Ethan Swope / Associated Press)

Destiney Barnard holds Raymond William Goetchius in the Doyle Quick Stop parkng lot. She was helping the family evacuate from Susanville when her car broke down.

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

The Dixie fire burns along a hillside near Taylorsville in Plumas County.

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

Gould Fickardt, 71, left, and Woody Hovland, 70, sit with their dogs, Primer, right, and Sheva after their Greenville homes were destroyed.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Burned cars and scorched trees in Greenville.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The Dixie fire jumps Highway 89 north of Greenville on Aug. 3.

(Noah Berger / Associated Press)

Cache fire

CalFire firefighters extinguish hot spots in the burning rubble at Creekside Mobile Home Park during Cache Fire in Clearlake.

(Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle)

Scorched cars line a property as the Cache fire burns in Clearlake.

(Noah Berger/Associated Press)

Firefighters mop up at Cache Creek Mobile Home Estates where the Cache fire leveled dozens of residences in Clearlake.

(Noah Berger/Associated Press)