California fire threatens homes as blazes burn across West

By EUGENE GARCIA and CHRISTOPHER WEBER
Associated Press

QUINCY, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of Northern California homes remain threatened by the nation’s largest wildfire and officials warn the danger of new blazes erupting across the West is high because of unstable weather. Thunderstorms haven’t produced much rain, but whipped up winds and generated lightning strikes across the northern Sierra where crews were battling the month-old Dixie Fire.  Extreme heat returned Sunday, with temperatures expected to top 100 degrees. More than 100 large wildfires were burning in more than a dozen states in the West, a region seared by drought and hot, bone-dry weather that turned forests, brushlands, meadows and pastures into tinder.