Rising temperatures on Thursday posed more challenges for firefighters who have made incremental progress against a massive wildfire in central California that injured four people as it became the biggest blaze in the state so far this year.

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

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.