The raging Mendocino Complex fire has officially become the largest wildfire in California's history, authorities have confirmed. Firefighters continue to battle the blaze, which is currently only 30 percent contained. “We broke the record,” Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott McLean said. “That’s one of those records you don’t want to see.” The Ranch and River fires that make up the Mendocino Complex wildfire had grown to 283,800 acres by Monday evening, Cal Fire said in their latest update. Some 3,908 firefighters, 441 fire engines, and 15 aircraft continue to battle the flames. </s> The Mendocino Complex fire in Northern California has just grown to become the largest wildfire in state history, devouring more than 290,000 acres. Photo: Getty Images

SAN FRANCISCO—Firefighters warned Tuesday it could take a month to contain the largest wildfire in California’s history.

The blaze—the second time in eight months a wildfire has claimed a record size—is prompting questions about where people should live and build long-term in a state that has increasingly pushed new development into what are now fire-prone areas. It’s early in the wildfire season. </s> LAKEPORT, Calif. (AP) - The U.S. Forest Service says the largest wildfire on record in California is 100 percent contained.

The agency made the announcement Wednesday about the so-called Mendocino Complex of twin fires that erupted in July.

The fires north of San Francisco killed a firefighter, destroyed 157 homes and scorched 720 square miles (1,865 square kilometers).

FILE - In this Aug. 7, 2018 file photo, firefighters monitor a backfire while battling the Ranch Fire, part of the Mendocino Complex Fire near Ladoga, Calif. The U.S. Forest Service says the largest wildfire in California history is now 100 percent contained. The service said Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018, the Mendocino Complex, twin fires that erupted in July in Lake County, scorched 720 square miles (1,865 square kilometers) of brush and timber north of San Francisco, destroyed 157 homes and killed a firefighter. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

That's an area more than twice the size of New York City.

Officials say 460 firefighters remain in the area, working to prevent erosion and monitoring spots that are still burning.

The blazes prompted the evacuation of thousands of people in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa and Glenn counties.

Authorities are still investigating what started the fires.

File - This file satellite image released on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018 provided by NOAA shows the wildfires known as the Mendocino Complex, Calif. The U.S. Forest Service says the largest wildfire in California history is now 100 percent contained. The service said Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018, the Mendocino Complex, twin fires that erupted in July in Lake County, scorched 720 square miles (1,865 square kilometers) of brush and timber north of San Francisco, destroyed 157 homes and killed a firefighter. (NOAA via AP, File) </s> LAKEPORT, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service says the largest wildfire in California history is now 100 percent contained.

The service said Wednesday the Mendocino Complex — twin fires that erupted in July in Lake County — scorched 720 square miles (1,865 square kilometers) of brush and timber north of San Francisco, destroyed 157 homes and killed a firefighter.

Officials says more than 400 firefighters remain in the area, doing repair work to prevent erosion and monitoring spots that continue to burn.

The blazes prompted the evacuation of thousands of people in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa and Glenn counties.

The smaller blaze was fully contained on August 14 but a massive blaze continued to burn in the Mendocino National Forest.

Authorities are still investigating what ignited the blazes.

Before you go... ABC10's Michael Anthony Adams joined members of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District and CAL FIRE when the Mendocino Complex Fire was raging in early August. </s> It’s the second year in a row that California has recorded the state’s largest wildfire.

FILE - In this Tuesday, July 31, 2018, file photo, a firefighter runs while trying to save a home as a wildfire tears through Lakeport, Calif. The residence eventually burned. Authorities say a rapidly expanding Northern California wildfire burning over an area the size of Los Angeles has become the state’s largest blaze in recorded history. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

Wildfires tearing through trees and brush, rampaging up hillsides and incinerating neighbourhoods: The place-names change but the devastation is showing signs of becoming the new normal in California.

On Monday, twin fires being treated as one incident north of San Francisco became the largest wildfire in state history, destroying 443 square miles (1,148 square kilometres) — nearly the size of the city of Los Angeles.

The Mendocino Complex was still growing as it broke the record set last December. The Thomas Fire killed two people, burned 440 square miles, and destroyed more than 1,000 buildings in Southern California before being fully contained Jan. 12.

The Mendocino Complex, which is 30 per cent contained, has been less destructive to property than some of the other wildfires in the state because it is mostly raging in remote areas. But officials say it threatens 11,300 buildings and some new evacuations were ordered over the weekend as the flames spread.

Hotter weather attributed to climate change is drying out vegetation, creating more intense fires that spread quickly from rural areas to city subdivisions, climate and fire experts say. But they also blame cities and towns that are expanding housing into previously undeveloped areas.

More than 14,000 firefighters are battling more than a dozen major blazes throughout California, state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott McLean said.

“I can remember a couple of years ago when we saw 10 to 12,000 firefighters in the states of California, Oregon and Washington and never the 14,000 we see now,” he said.

Crews made progress over the weekend against one of the two blazes in the Mendocino Complex with help from water-dropping aircraft, Cal Fire operations chief Charlie Blankenheim said in a video on Facebook.

Related: Back to rubble, some ‘lost everything’ in California fire

But the other one is growing after spreading into the Mendocino National Forest.

Meanwhile, a new fire erupted south of Los Angeles in Orange County on Monday and quickly spread through the chaparral-covered ridges of the Cleveland National Forest. Campgrounds and homes in Holy Jim Canyon were ordered evacuated. The fire sent up an enormous pillar of smoke and ash.

Farther north, crews gained ground against a deadly blaze that has destroyed more than 1,000 homes in and around Redding. It was nearly halfway contained, Cal Fire said.

The wildfire about 225 miles (360 kilometres) north of San Francisco started more than two weeks ago by sparks from the steel wheel of a towed-trailer’s flat tire. It killed two firefighters and four residents and displaced more than 38,000 people.

Officials began allowing some residents to return to their neighbourhoods. But tens of thousands of others were still evacuated.

The fires in Northern California have created such a haze of smoke in the Central Valley that Sacramento County health officials advised residents to avoid outdoor activities for the entire week.

Another blaze that ignited last week in the Sierra Nevada has damaged a historic Northern California resort in the Stanislaus National Forest. The nearly century-old Dardanelle Resort has sustained massive structural damage, though the details were unclear, the Sacramento Bee newspaper reported.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> LAKEPORT, Calif. — The U.S. Forest Service says the largest wildfire on record in California is 100 per cent contained.

The agency said Wednesday the Mendocino Complex — twin fires that erupted in July in Lake County — killed a firefighter and destroyed 157 homes while scorching 720 square miles (1,865 square kilometres) of brush and timber north of San Francisco.

Officials say more than 400 firefighters remain in the area, working to prevent erosion and monitoring spots that continue to burn.

The blazes prompted the evacuation of thousands of people in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa and Glenn counties.

Authorities are still investigating what started the fires. </s> LAKEPORT (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service says the largest wildfire in California history is now 100 percent contained.

The service said Wednesday the Mendocino Complex — twin fires that erupted in July in Lake County — scorched 720 square miles (1,865 square kilometers) of brush and timber north of San Francisco, destroyed 157 homes and killed a firefighter.

REPORT: Utah Firefighter Killed In Mendocino Complex Fire Died After Fire Retardant Drop, Report Says

Officials says more than 400 firefighters remain in the area, doing repair work to prevent erosion and monitoring spots that continue to burn.

The blazes prompted the evacuation of thousands of people in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa and Glenn counties.

The smaller blaze was fully contained on August 14 but a massive blaze continued to burn in the Mendocino National Forest.

Authorities are still investigating what ignited the blazes. </s> LAKEPORT, Calif. — The U.S. Forest Service says the largest wildfire on record in California is 100 percent contained.

The agency made the announcement Wednesday about the so-called Mendocino Complex of twin fires that erupted in July.

The fires north of San Francisco killed a firefighter, destroyed 157 homes and scorched 720 square miles (1,865 square kilometers).

That’s an area more than twice the size of New York City.

Officials say 460 firefighters remain in the area, working to prevent erosion and monitoring spots that are still burning.

The blazes prompted the evacuation of thousands of people in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa and Glenn counties.

Authorities are still investigating what started the fires.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> The River and Ranch wildfires in Northern California, known as the Mendocino Complex Fire, continue to rage out of control, now having burned more than 283,000 acres. The two blazes that began burning through Northern California late last month have grown at breathtaking speed to form a massive inferno that has now set a new mark for destruction, reports the Washington Post.

The twin wildfires have together more than doubled in size in the past four days and burned an area almost the size of Los Angeles. By Monday night, the Mendocino Complex Fire had earned an infamous distinction, becoming the largest wildfire ever recorded in California, according to Cal Fire.

It has now surpassed the Thomas Fire that burned nearly 282,000 acres of land in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties late last year and the Cedar Fire that killed 15 people in San Diego County 15 years ago.

Fueled by low humidity, triple-digit temperatures and winds blowing across wide swaths of tinder-dry vegetation, the Mendocino Complex Fire showed little sign of slowing Tuesday, spreading to three counties, surrounded a river and parts of neighboring reservoirs, and destroyed and damaged nearly 170 homes and other structures.

Typically, temperatures dip and humidity rises overnight, giving firefighters a window to slow the fires’ progress. But this has not happened.
The Mendocino Complex Fire grows into the largest active wildfire in California history.