The Gifford Fire burning in central California has burned more than 119,000 acres as of early Monday, having expanded to reach "megafire" status since it began earlier in August. Newsweek contacted U.S. Forest Service for comment via email on Monday.

The map above shows Gifford’s evacuation area in red and the approximate fire perimeter as a black line. Shown as a gray tone is the perimeter of last month’s Madre Fire, previously the biggest fire of the year; it burned 80,779 acres in the Carrizo Plain area, just east of Gifford.