Amid a worsening climate crisis, the fires in California have reached catastrophic levels as the Gifford Fire rips through the central coast, tearing across dry forests and mountain terrain with alarming speed and intensity.

The Gifford Fire has scorched more than 83,000 acres of California's Central Coast, becoming the state's largest wildfire of the year so far. The massive wildfire burning in eastern San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties was 9% contained as of Wednesday, Aug. 6, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The fire has scorched at least 131 square miles of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, with just 9% containment.