California Creek Fire Map, Update As 'Phenomenal Amount' of Sierra National Forest Burned

California's Creek Fire in Fresno County has reached 162,833 acres, with zero percent contained, the U.S. Forest Service - Sierra National Forest confirmed at a Tuesday evening press briefing.

Nearly 70,000 acres of Sierra National Forest have been burned by the Creek Fire. Some 45,000 acres were burned on the first day of the fire followed by an additional 21,000 acres on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Sierra National Forest, Dean Gould, confirmed.

"We've had a significant drop in the overall rate of growth for the incidents," Gould said Tuesday. "21,000 acres is still a phenomenal amount. That would be a significant incident. That just kind of puts into perspective what this incident really is," he added.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) warned in its latest report Tuesday: "The heavy fuels, especially the high tree mortality, will continue to be an issue for control efforts. This combined with the limited access and difficult terrain will allow the fire to continue to spread into the forest

"The threat [to] the communities will continue to exist, the size of the fire will create a large area for control efforts," the department added.

Eight U.S. National Forests in California have been temporarily closed, while restrictions were announced for several others, due to the "threat of unprecedented and dangerous fire conditions with a combination of extreme heat, significant wind events, dry conditions," the USDA Forest Service said.

The U.S. Navy and California National Guard have evacuated 142 people who were trapped in parts of the Sierra National Forest, including Edison Lake, Mono Hot Springs and Florence Lake, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office confirmed Tuesday.

Eight total flights were made by an Air National Guard helicopter and a helicopter from Naval Air Station Lemoore, a U.S. Navy base, to transport the trapped backpackers and campers to safety at Fresno Yosemite International Airport.

Around 385 people and 27 animals have been rescued over the past few days, California Army National Guard Col. David Hall SAID.

"There are a lot of people that are still trying to be rescued...this one hit us by surprise," Hall told NBC's Today program on Tuesday.

Around 30,000 people in Fresno County and 4,000 in Madera County have been evacuated, county officials confirmed at Tuesday's press briefing.

Evacuation orders are in place for various parts of Madera County, including Bass Lake Basin, Wishon, Bass Lake Annex, and Manzanita, as well as the town of North Fork and surrounding area, according to the latest report by Cal Fire.

Evacuation warnings are in place in parts of Fresno County for "Tollhouse Road from SR-168 to Lodge Road including Tollhouse Road North to SR -168," as well as in portions of Madera County, including the Bass Lake community, Wawona and Fish Camp areas, Cal Fire confirmed. See the department's full report for more details.

Nearly 14,000 firefighters are currently battling 25 major wildfires across California. The fires have burned over 2.2 million acres of the state, with 3,300 structures destroyed and eight reported deaths.