The August Complex Fire, which became California's largest ever wildfire this week, has merged with several other blazes and grew to 746,607 acres, up from 471,185 a day earlier, authorities said. In a statement on Friday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said the blaze was 25 per cent contained, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to Cal Fire, five of the 20 largest fires in California's history are currently raging across the state. The SCU and LNU lightning complex fires, largely contained in the San Francisco Bay Area, are the third and fourth largest, respectively.