and in the case of humbelt, it was 75 lightning strikes in the same area burning in different directions, this s one fire. everything they know about fire behavior and the way things are supposed to go as far as california fires go, they have to throw out the window for this one. this rocky fire which is where we are. incident command post, this 63,000-acre fire is not following any of the rules. the winds are not taking it the direction that they re supposed to be at certain times of day. it is not what they expect. so it s baffling to behaviorists and the firefighters and the incident commanders who are trying to figure out how to tackle this thing going in different directions. every different hour of the day and it s a different beast every day that they re fighting it. it jumped over what they thought was a pretty solid containment line which was highway 20 yesterday afternoon. and this time of the afternoon
california, where the fire continues to devour new territory today is nbc s jennifer. it s unprecedented. how are people holding up there? it s tough. the firefighters here are exhausted. it s a new firefight every day. it s moving in a different direction through different terrain. and it s shifting. and as much as it s burned already there is still plenty of fuel out there. it s a fuel-driven fire. at one point on monday afternoon it even jumped the highway which they were really hoping would act as a containment line. they couldn t believe it when it happened. and one of the firefighters who was there said, you know, oftentimes you will see sparks and embers sort of cartwheeling over and lighting new brush on other sides of roads, but this was like a flame thrower, balls of fire just shooting out of this monstrous fire that s been growing every day for the last few. right now wildfires are burning in 134,000 acres in the state of
now i m back! aleve. all day strong. wildfire alert and the largest wildfire in california is now threatening thousands of homes. thousands now after it jumped a containment line. that s according to emergency officials in northern california, where they say over the past six days a massive fire has burned more than 101 square miles. roughly the size of the city of sacramento, twice the size of san francisco. officials say it s destroyed at least 24 homes and 13,000 people are under some sort of evacuation order. crews say this wildfire tripled in size over the weekend. the wildfire eating up extremely dry brush around a lower lake, which as you can see is north of san francisco in northern california. officials say it s one of more than 20 wildfires now burning in the drought-stricken state.
flames jumped the containment line. and destroyed 20 homes. it is one of 23 wild wild burning in the state that is really a tinderbox after four years of drought. janice we ll get back to you with the wildfires forecast and latest from the scene. claudia cowan joins us from lake port, california. reporter: the rocky fire is massive and burning out of control for the sixth. 65000 acre, and roughly burned the area like the city of sacramento. it is only 12 percent contained. flames crossed a critical fire break yesterday afternoon. this is highway 20, a main artery through town that fire crews were using as a containment line.
rocky fire has forced some 13,000 people from their homes. and at this point, it s unclear when if ever they ll be ever to return. nbc s jennifer bjorklund is live in town of lake forest. is there news from fire officials today? reporter: look on the bright side. it s a little bit cooler. the humidity level is up a tiny bit. it s in the middle teens and the containment line, it s still only 12% but the fire grew overnight, as well. so to 63,000 acres and 12% of that is a little bit bigger. but that s about all the good news out of this fire right now. this is one of as you said 27 fires burning throughout the state of california and in the west. and it all depends on how you count them. some of these fires are actually complexes. welcome at the names and a complex at the end of it, it s several small fires close enough together to classify it as one. just so it s not so confusing