Smoke plumes driving east on Interstate 50 into Pollock Pines where the Caldor fire has been burning since Sunday.

A wildfire raged through a small Northern California forest town Tuesday, burning dozens of homes as dangerously dry and windy weather also continued to fuel other massive blazes and prompted the nation’s largest utility to begin shutting off power to 51,000 customers. The Caldor fire in the northern Sierra Nevada had burned an estimated 50 homes in and around Grizzly Flats, a town of about 1,200 people, fire officials said at a community meeting. To the north the Dixie Fire -- the largest of some 100 active wildfires in more than a dozen Western states -- was advancing toward Susanville, population about 18,000. Meanwhile, Pacific Gas & Electric announced it had begun shutting off power to some 51,000 customers in small portions of 18 northern counties to prevent winds from knocking down or fouling power lines and sparking new blazes.

WARNING! GRAPHIC CONTENT! Human remains found in C-17 landing gear after Kabul evacuation flight. The Air Force Office of Special Investigations is reviewing reports that people tried clinging to a departing C-17 airplane Sunday after the Afghan government's collapse, according to an Air Force spokesperson. The vehicle had landed Sunday to deliver supplies for the evacuation effort but encountered a mob of civilians who had breached the airport's perimeter, the spokesperson said. Fearing "a rapidly deteriorating security situation," the pilot decided to take off.

Afghanistan: LIVE UPDATES (FOX NEWS)