Dixie wildfire in Northern California has become the third largest wildfire in the state's history. 

The fire continues to grow and has torched more than 1700 square kilometers till Friday. 

This week the fire razed the Gold Rush town of Greenville.

Plumas County Sheriff Todd Johns, who is helping to coordinate the fight against the fire, said the destruction was devastating.

"I am a lifelong resident of Greenville. My heart is crushed by what has occurred there," he told a briefing on Thursday.

"To the folks that have lost residences and businesses... their life is now forever changed.

"All I can tell you is: I'm sorry."

The town of Greenville stood charred and in ruins Friday, with timber structures gone completely and some stone buildings reduced to rubble.

The Dixie Fire grew overnight by a fifth, to more than 430,000 acres (174,000 hectares), making it larger than the Bootleg Fire that has laid waste to a swathe of Oregon over the last month.

Thousands of square kilometers of the western United States have burned this year, an alarming result of the warming planet that has affected weather patterns.