2018 California wildfires | |||||||||||||||
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An August 1, 2018, satellite image of the wildfires burning in Northern California and Southern Oregon; smoke can be seen trailing northeastward over Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho | |||||||||||||||
Statistics [1] [2] [3] | |||||||||||||||
Total fires | 8,527 | ||||||||||||||
Total area | 1,975,086 acres (799,289 ha) | ||||||||||||||
Impacts | |||||||||||||||
Deaths | 97 civilians and 6 firefighters [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] | ||||||||||||||
Non-fatal injuries | At least 80 | ||||||||||||||
Structures destroyed | 24,226 | ||||||||||||||
Damage | >$26.347 billion (2018 USD) (Costliest on record) [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] | ||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||
![]() A map of wildfires in California in 2018, using Cal Fire data | |||||||||||||||
Season | |||||||||||||||
← 2017 2019 → |
The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in California history. It was also the largest on record at the time, now third after the 2020 and 2021 California wildfire seasons. [18] [19] [20] In 2018, there were a total of 103 confirmed fatalities, 24,226 structures damaged or destroyed, and 8,527 fires burning 1,975,086 acres (799,289 ha), about 2% of the state's 100 million acres of land. Through the end of August 2018, Cal Fire alone spent $432 million on operations. [21] The catastrophic Camp Fire alone killed at least 85 people, destroyed 18,804 buildings and caused $16.5 billion in property damage, while overall the fires resulted in at least $26.347 billion in property damage and firefighting costs, [13] [15] [16] [17] [14] including $25.4 billion in property damage and $947 million in fire suppression costs. [13] [14]
In mid-July to August 2018, a series of large wildfires erupted across California, mostly in the northern part of the state. On August 4, 2018, a national disaster was declared in Northern California, due to the extensive wildfires burning there. [22]
The Carr Fire in July and August 2018 caused more than $1.5 billion (2018 USD) in property damage. [17] [23] [24] [25] The Mendocino Complex Fire burned more than 459,000 acres (186,000 ha), becoming the largest complex fire in the state's history at the time, with the complex's Ranch Fire surpassing the Thomas Fire and the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889 to become California's single-largest recorded wildfire. [26] [27] In September 2020, the August Complex surpassed the Mendocino Complex to become California's single-largest recorded wildfire. [28]
In November 2018, strong winds aggravated conditions in another round of large, destructive fires that occurred across the state. This new batch of wildfires included the Woolsey Fire and the Camp Fire. The Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise and killed at least 85 people, with 1 still unaccounted for as of August 2, 2019. [29] The Camp Fire destroyed more than 18,000 structures, becoming both California's deadliest and most destructive wildfire on record. AccuWeather estimated the total economic cost of the 2018 wildfires at $400 billion (2018 USD), which includes property damage, firefighting costs, direct and indirect economic losses, as well as recovery expenditures. [30] Another study, published two years after the fires, estimated the total damages at $148.5 billion, including capital losses, health costs and indirect losses. [31]
Several factors led to the destructiveness of the 2018 California wildfire season. A combination of increased fuel loading and atmospheric conditions influenced by global warming led to a series of destructive fires. Primary causes of wildfire vary geographically based on many factors, such as topography. [32] For example, characteristically dense forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains harbor fuel-driven fires while the open central valley from the south Bay Area to San Diego County are more prone to wind-driven fire over dry grasslands. [32]
A direct contributor to the 2018 California wildfires was an increase in dead tree fuel. [33] By December 2017, there were a record 129 million dead trees in California. [34] Tree mortality is linked to a period during the 2010s of "anomalously warm droughts" [35] that were severe and long-lasting enough to stand out even amongst California's existing history of wildfires and exceptionally dry conditions. [32] One study focused on the concentrated mortality of densely populated conifers of the Sierra Nevada "found that die-off was closely tied to multi-year deep-rooting-zone drying" and that severity of that dryness can be used to predict mortality. [35] Such drought leaves trees stressed for water, which makes them susceptible to beetle infestation and exacerbates tree mortality further. [36]
Drought intensity lessened in California by 2017, [37] but the effects of tree mortality linger for years. One study expresses a lack of sufficient data to confidently determine the rate of coniferous tree decay in the Sierra Nevada. [38] Nonetheless, it is a gradual process, and the remaining dead tree matter is an optimal fuel source for future wild fires.
Stanford Earth System Science Professor Noah Diffenbaugh stated that atmospheric conditions for California wildfires are expected to worsen in the future because of the effects of climate change in California and that "what we're seeing over the last few years in terms of the wildfire season in California [is] very consistent with the historical trends in terms of increasing temperatures, increasing dryness, and increasing wildfire risk." Other experts agreed, saying that global warming is to blame for these extreme weather conditions. Global warming has led to higher temperatures and longer summers, creating a drier landscape that gave fires more fuel to burn longer and stronger.
[39] Research published August 2018 predicted an increase in the number of wildfires in California as a consequence of climate change. [40] However, from a historical perspective, it has been estimated that prior to 1850, about 4.5 million acres (17,000 km2) burned yearly, in fires that lasted for months. [41]
A wildland–urban interface (or WUI) refers to the zone of transition between unoccupied land and human development. Communities that are within 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of the zone may also be included. These lands and communities adjacent to and surrounded by wildlands are at risk of wildfires. [42] Since the 1990s, over 43% of new residential buildings have been constructed in this area. In some areas, the amount of new residences in those areas is 80%. [43] In the past, when these areas burned, no residences were lost, but now residences are present, which end up being destroyed. [44] Furthermore, a "century of successful fire suppression" performed in an attempt to protect forests and those living in WUIs has also disrupted natural cycles of disturbance and renewed succession of an ecosystem by allowing fuel to reach abnormal density levels discussed above.
Northern California and the Central Valley saw drastic increases in air pollutants during the height of the July and August fires, while Southern California also experienced an increase in air pollution in August. [45] Air quality in Northern and Central California remained poor until mid-September 2018, when fire activity was drastically diminished. However, during the November Camp Fire, air quality diminished again, with the majority of the Bay Area being subjected to air quality indexes (AQIs) of 200 and above, in the "unhealthy" region.
The following is a list of fires that burned more than 1,000 acres (400 ha), or produced significant structural damage or loss of life.
Name | County | Acres | Start date | Containment date | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pleasant | Inyo | 2,070 | February 18, 2018 | April 3, 2018 | First significant wildfire of the year | [46] |
Moffat | Inyo | 1,265 | April 19, 2018 | May 21, 2018 | [47] | |
Nees | Merced | 1,756 | May 2, 2018 | May 17, 2018 | [48] | |
Patterson | Riverside | 1,261 | May 17, 2018 | May 21, 2018 | [49] | |
Panoche | San Benito | 64 | June 4, 2018 | June 7, 2018 | 3 civilians killed | [50] [4] |
Stone | Los Angeles | 1,352 | June 4, 2018 | June 13, 2018 | [51] | |
Airline | San Benito | 1,314 | June 4, 2018 | June 14, 2018 | [52] | |
Apple | Tehama | 2,956 | June 9, 2018 | June 14, 2018 | 3 residential structures and 2 outbuildings destroyed | [53] |
Chrome | Glenn | 2,290 | June 9, 2018 | June 21, 2018 | 1 outbuilding destroyed | [54] |
Lions | Madera | 13,347 | June 11, 2018 | October 1, 2018 | [55] [56] | |
Planada | Merced | 4,564 | June 15, 2018 | June 21, 2018 | [57] | |
Yankee | San Luis Obispo | 1,500 | June 20, 2018 | July 1, 2018 | [58] | |
Lane | Tehama | 3,716 | June 23, 2018 | July 4, 2018 | 1 injury | [59] |
Pawnee | Lake | 15,185 | June 23, 2018 | July 8, 2018 | 22 structures destroyed, 1 injury | [60] |
Creek | Madera | 1,678 | June 24, 2018 | July 5, 2018 | 4 residential structures and 7 minor structures destroyed | [61] |
Waverly | San Joaquin | 12,300 | June 29, 2018 | July 2, 2018 | [62] | |
County | Lake, Napa, Yolo | 90,288 | June 30, 2018 | July 14, 2018 | 20 structures destroyed; 1 firefighter injured | [63] |
Klamathon | Siskiyou | 38,008 | July 5, 2018 | July 16, 2018 | 82 structures destroyed; 3 injuries, 1 civilian killed | [64] [65] |
Valley | San Bernardino | 1,350 | July 6, 2018 | October 22, 2018 | 5 injured | [66] [67] [17] |
Holiday | Santa Barbara | 113 | July 6, 2018 | July 11, 2018 | 20 structures destroyed | [68] |
Pendleton Complex | San Diego | 1,800 | July 6, 2018 | July 11, 2018 | Originated as 3 separate fires; burned in Camp Pendleton | [69] [70] |
West | San Diego | 504 | July 6, 2018 | July 11, 2018 | 56 structures destroyed | [71] |
Georges | Inyo | 2,883 | July 8, 2018 | July 18, 2018 | This was about the time that the wildfire outbreak started and some of the worst wildfires of the season, including the Carr and Mendocino Complex, aka the Ranch Fire/ River Fire, began. | [72] [73] [17] |
Ferguson | Mariposa | 96,901 | July 13, 2018 | August 18, 2018 | 19 firefighters injured, 2 firefighters killed; 10 structures destroyed | [5] [74] |
Eagle | Modoc | 2,100 | July 13, 2018 | July 17, 2018 | [75] [17] | |
Natchez | Del Norte, Siskiyou | 38,134 | July 15, 2018 | October 30, 2018 | [76] [77] | |
Carr | Shasta | 229,651 | July 23, 2018 | August 30, 2018 | 1,079 residences, 22 commercial structures, 503 outbuildings destroyed 190 residences, 26 commercial structures, and 63 outbuildings damaged 3 firefighters and 5 civilians killed | [78] |
Cranston | Riverside | 13,139 | July 26, 2018 | August 10, 2018 | 12 buildings destroyed | [79] |
Mendocino Complex | Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, Glenn | 459,123 | July 27, 2018 | September 18, 2018 | The Ranch and River Fires are collectively called the Mendocino Complex Fire 157 residential buildings destroyed, 123 others destroyed 13 residential buildings and 24 other buildings damaged 1 firefighter killed, 4 firefighters injured | [80] [81] [27] [82] |
Whaleback | Lassen | 18,703 | July 27, 2018 | August 7, 2018 | [83] | |
Butte | Sutter | 1,200 | July 31, 2018 | August 3, 2018 | [84] | |
Donnell | Tuolumne | 36,450 | August 1, 2018 | October 1, 2018 | 135 structures destroyed; 9 civilians injured | [85] |
Tarina | Kern | 2,950 | August 3, 2018 | August 6, 2018 | [86] | |
Pendleton | San Diego | 1,000 | August 5, 2018 | August 6, 2018 | Burned in Camp Pendleton | [87] |
Turkey | Monterey | 2,225 | August 6, 2018 | August 6, 2018 | [88] | |
Holy | Orange, Riverside | 23,136 | August 6, 2018 | September 13, 2018 | 18 structures destroyed; 3 firefighters injured [89] | [90] [91] [92] |
Five | Kings | 2,995 | August 6, 2018 | August 8, 2018 | [93] | |
Hirz | Shasta | 46,150 | August 9, 2018 | September 12, 2018 | [94] | |
Hat | Shasta | 1,900 | August 9, 2018 | August 16, 2018 | [95] | |
Nelson | Solano | 2,162 | August 10, 2018 | August 12, 2018 | [96] | |
Stone | Modoc | 39,387 | August 15, 2018 | August 29, 2018 | [97] | |
Mill Creek 1 | Humboldt | 3,674 | August 16, 2018 | August 30, 2018 | [98] | |
Front | San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara | 1,014 | August 19, 2018 | August 29, 2018 | [99] | |
North | Placer | 1,120 | September 3, 2018 | September 16, 2018 | [100] | |
Boot | Mono | 6,974 | September 4, 2018 | September 15, 2018 | [101] | |
Kerlin | Trinity | 1,751 | September 4, 2018 | September 17, 2018 | [102] | |
Delta | Shasta | 63,311 | September 5, 2018 | October 7, 2018 | Merged into the Hirz Fire; 20 structures destroyed | [103] |
Snell | Napa | 2,490 | September 8, 2018 | September 15, 2018 | [104] | |
Charlie | Los Angeles | 3,380 | September 22, 2018 | October 1, 2018 | [105] [106] | |
Alder | Tulare | 4,653 | October 4, 2018 | December 7, 2018 | Both of the Alder and Eden Fires, along with the Mountaineer, were the last fires to be taken out. All three were 100% Contained by the end of December 7. | [107] |
Eden | Tulare | 1,777 | October 4, 2018 | December 7, 2018 | [108] [109] | |
Branscombe | Solano | 4,700 | October 7, 2018 | November 9, 2018 | 4 structures destroyed | [110] [111] |
Sun | Tehama | 3,889 | October 7, 2018 | October 12, 2018 | [112] | |
Mountaineer | Tulare | 1,270 | October 13, 2018 | December 7, 2018 | This fire, along with the Alder and Eden fires, were the last fires to be put out, marking the end of the fire season. | [113] |
Camp | Butte | 153,336 | November 8, 2018 | November 25, 2018 | 5 firefighters injured, 89 civilian deaths, 12 civilians injured, 1 civilian missing; 18,804 structures destroyed, 564 structures damaged; destroyed the town of Paradise. Costliest wildfire recorded in the modern era. | [114] [115] [29] [15] |
Nurse | Solano | 1,500 | November 8, 2018 | November 27, 2018 | [116] | |
Hill | Ventura | 4,531 | November 8, 2018 | November 15, 2018 | 4 structures destroyed | [117] |
Woolsey | Los Angeles, Ventura | 96,949 | November 8, 2018 | November 22, 2018 | 3 civilians killed, 1,643 structures destroyed, 364 damaged | [118] [119] [120] |
On June 4, the Panoche Fire broke out, in a series of three blazes that started in the San Benito County area. While the Panoche incident was the smallest of the three fires, burning only 64 acres (26 ha), the remains of three people were found in a destroyed camping trailer in the burn area. [4] [121] The remains were believed to belong to a mother, a toddler, and an infant. [4] [122]
On July 14, a Cal Fire bulldozer operator was killed while fighting the Ferguson Fire, becoming the first firefighter death of the season. [5]
On July 23, the Carr Fire broke out after a vehicle malfunctioned. While the Carr Fire burned in rural areas of Shasta County for the first few days, it crossed the Sacramento River and entered the city limits of Redding, California on the evening of July 26. By the next morning, two firefighters and four civilians had been killed. [6] [7] [123]
On July 29, a firefighter with the National Park Service was killed after a dead tree fell and struck him, while he was fighting the Ferguson Fire. He was "treated on scene, but died before he could be taken to the hospital". [8]
On August 4, a Pacific Gas and Electric Company employee was killed in a vehicle incident while working to restore services to areas impacted by the Carr Fire. [9]
On August 9, a Cal Fire heavy equipment mechanic was killed in a traffic incident while working at the Carr Fire. [10]
On August 13, a firefighter was killed while fighting the Mendocino Complex Fire. [11]
On November 8, 2018, 85 civilians were killed by the Camp Fire, while three firefighters were injured. The number dead had been listed at 87, lowered to 85 by early December when it was discovered one victim was put in several bags. [124] Three people [12] also died during the Woolsey Fire near Malibu. [125]
In August 2018, the Santa Clara County Fire Department raised claims against Verizon Wireless that their "unlimited" data service had been throttled while the fire department was attempting to contain the Mendocino Complex Fire. The Verizon contract stated that the department's plan would be throttled down to 200 kbit/s or 600 kbit/s once the department had used 25 GB in a single month. However, the contract stated that the usage related throttling would not apply in certain emergency situations, such as wildfire containment operations. The plan remained throttled, despite the department's notification to Verizon regarding the situation. [126] [127]
The Cedar Fire was a massive, highly-destructive wildfire, which burned 273,246 acres (1,106 km2) of land in San Diego County, California, during October and November 2003. The fire's rapid growth was driven by the Santa Ana wind, causing the fire to spread at a rate of 3,600 acres (15 km2) per hour. By the time the fire was fully contained on November 4, it had destroyed 2,820 buildings and killed 15 people, including one firefighter. Hotspots continued to burn within the Cedar Fire's perimeter until December 5, 2003, when the fire was fully brought under control.
The 2009 California wildfires were a series of 9,159 wildfires that were active in the US state of California, during the year 2009. The fires burned more than 422,147 acres of land from early February through late November, due to Red Flag conditions, destroying hundreds of structures, injuring 134 people, and killing four. The wildfires also caused at least US$134.48 million in damage. Although the fires burned many different regions of California in August, the month was especially notable for several very large fires which burned in Southern California, despite being outside of the normal fire season for that region.
The 2015 California wildfire season was a series of wildfires that burned across the state of California. By the end of 2015 a total of 8,745 fires were recorded, burning 893,362 acres (3,615 km2) across the state. Approximately 3,159 structures were damaged or destroyed by wildfires, and at least 7 fatalities were recorded.
The Valley Fire was a wildfire during the 2015 California wildfire season that started on September 12 in Lake County, California. It began shortly after 1:00 pm near Cobb with multiple reports of a small brush fire near the intersection of High Valley and Bottlerock Roads. It quickly spread and by 6:30 PM PDT, it had burned more than 10,000 acres (40 km2). By Sunday, the thirteenth of September, the fire had reached 50,000 acres (202 km2) and had destroyed much of Cobb, Middletown, Whispering Pines, and parts in the south end of Hidden Valley Lake. The fire ultimately spread to 76,067 acres (308 km2), killed four people and destroyed nearly 2,000 buildings, before it was fully contained on October 15, 2015, causing at least $921 million in insured property damage. At the time, the fire was the third-most destructive fire in California history, based on the total structures burned, but the Camp Fire (2018) and the North Complex fire in 2020, exceeded that total.
In 2016, a total of 7,349 fires had burned an area 669,534 acres (2,709.51 km2) in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Soberanes Fire was a large wildfire that burned from July to October 2016 in the Santa Lucia Mountains of Monterey County, California. It destroyed 57 homes and killed a bulldozer operator, and cost about $260 million to suppress, making it at the time the most expensive wildfire to fight in United States history. At the fire's peak, over 5,000 personnel were assigned to the blaze. The fire was the result of an illegal campfire in Garrapata State Park. By the time it was finally extinguished, the fire had burned 132,127 acres (53,470 ha) along the Big Sur coast in the Los Padres National Forest, Ventana Wilderness, and adjacent private and public land in Monterey County, ranking it 18th on the list of the largest California wildfires in terms of acreage burned.
In terms of property damage, 2017 was the most destructive wildfire season on record in California at the time, surpassed by only the 2018 season and the 2020 season, with a total of 9,560 fires burning 1,548,429 acres (6,266.27 km2) of land, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, including five of the 20 most destructive wildland-urban interface fires in the state's history. Throughout 2017, the fires destroyed or damaged more than 10,000 structures in the state, a higher tally than the previous nine years combined. State data showed that the large wildfires killed 47 people – 45 civilians and 2 firefighters – almost higher than the previous 10 years combined. The total property damage and total amount of burned land were both surpassed by the 2018 California wildfires.
The October 2017 Northern California wildfires, also known as the Northern California firestorm, North Bay Fires, and the Wine Country Fires were a series of 250 wildfires that started burning across the state of California, United States, beginning in early October. Twenty-one became major fires that burned at least 245,000 acres (99,148 ha).
The Carr Fire was a large wildfire that burned in Shasta and Trinity Counties in California, United States. The fire burned 229,651 acres, before it was 100% contained late on August 30, 2018. The Carr Fire destroyed at least 1,604 structures while damaging 277 others, becoming at the time the sixth-most destructive fire in California history, as well as the fourteenth-largest wildfire recorded in modern California history. The Carr Fire cost over $1.659 billion in damages, including $1.5 billion in insured losses and more than $158.7 million in suppression costs. The fire destroyed multiple towns around Whiskeytown Lake. At its height, the fire engaged as many as 4,766 personnel from multiple agencies. The fire was reported on the afternoon of July 23, 2018, at the intersection of Highway 299 and Carr Powerhouse Road, in the Whiskeytown district of the Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area. Coincidental to the name of the incident, the fire was started when a flat tire on a vehicle caused the wheel's rim to scrape against the asphalt, creating sparks that set off the fire.
The Mendocino Complex Fire was a large complex of wildfires that burned in northern California for more than three months in 2018. It consisted of two wildfires, the River Fire and Ranch Fire, which burned in Mendocino, Lake, Colusa, and Glenn Counties in the U.S. State of California, with the Ranch Fire being California's single-largest recorded wildfire at the time until the August Complex fire in 2020. The Ranch Fire burned eight miles northeast of Ukiah, and the River Fire burned six miles north of Hopland, to the south of the larger Ranch Fire. First reported on July 27, 2018, both fires burned a combined total of 459,123 acres (1,858 km2), before they were collectively 100% contained on September 18, though hotspots persisted until the complex was fully brought under control on January 4, 2019. The Ranch Fire alone burned 410,203 acres (1,660 km2), making it the largest wildfire in modern California history at the time until the August Complex fire that occurred in 2020. The Ranch Fire also surpassed the size of the 315,577-acre Rush Fire, which burned across California and Nevada, as well as the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889, which was previously believed to have been California's all-time largest wildfire.
The Hirz Fire was a 2018 wildfire that burned near Lakehead, California in the Shasta National Forest. The fire burned a total of 46,150 acres (187 km2), before it was fully contained on September 12. The fire was burning only a few miles from the enormous Carr Fire, the sixth-most destructive fire in California history. On September 10, the growing Delta Fire burned into the western perimeter of the Hirz Fire.
The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history. The fire began on the morning of Thursday, November 8, 2018 in Butte County, California, near Camp Creek Road. A poorly maintained Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) transmission line failed amid high winds, which rapidly drove the subsequent fire through the communities of Concow, Magalia, Butte Creek Canyon, and Paradise, largely destroying them. The fire burned for another two weeks, and was contained on Sunday, November 25, after burning 153,336 acres (62,050 ha). The Camp Fire caused 85 fatalities, 17 injuries, and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, causing an estimated $16.5 billion in damage. and making it the most expensive natural disaster of 2018.
The Woolsey Fire was a wildfire that started in Los Angeles County and spread north to neighboring Ventura County, both located in the U.S. state of California. The fire ignited on November 8, 2018 and wasn't fully contained until November 21, 2018. The fire burned 96,949 acres of land, destroyed 1,643 structures, killed three people, and prompted the evacuation of more than 295,000 people. It was one of several fires in California that ignited on the same day, along with the nearby Hill Fire and the destructive Camp Fire in Northern California.
The SCU Lightning Complex fires were wildfires that burned in the Diablo Range in California in August and September 2020 as part of the 2020 California wildfire season. The fire complex consisted of fires in Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, Merced, and Stanislaus counties. The name is derived from the three-letter designation given to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection division responsible for the Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, and parts of San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, and the complex consisted of several distinct fires occurring in this region.
The August Complex was a massive wildfire that burned in the Coast Range of Northern California, in Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Tehama, Trinity, and Shasta Counties. The complex originated as 38 separate fires started by lightning strikes on August 16–17, 2020. Four of the largest fires, the Doe, Tatham, Glade, and Hull fires, had burned together by August 30. On September 9, the Doe Fire, the main fire of the August Complex, surpassed the 2018 Mendocino Complex to become both the single-largest wildfire and the largest fire complex in recorded California history. On September 10, the combined Doe Fire also merged with the Elkhorn Fire and the Hopkins Fire, growing substantially in size. By the time it was extinguished on November 12, the August Complex fire had burned a total of 1,032,648 acres (417,898 ha), or 1,614 square miles (4,180 km2), about 1% of California's 100 million acres of land, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.
The 2021 Dixie Fire was an enormous wildfire in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama counties in Northern California. Named after a nearby Dixie Road, the fire began in the Feather River Canyon near Cresta Dam in Butte County on July 13, 2021, and burned 963,309 acres (389,837 ha) before it was declared 100 percent contained on October 25, 2021. It was the largest single source wildfire in recorded California history, and the second-largest wildfire overall, The fire damaged or destroyed several communities, including Greenville on August 4, Canyondam on August 5, and Warner Valley on August 12.
The 2022 California wildfire season was a series of wildfires throughout the U.S. state of California. By the end of the year, a total of 7,667 fires had been recorded, totaling approximately 363,939 acres across the state. Wildfires killed nine people in California in 2022, destroyed 772 structures, and damaged another 104. The 2022 season followed the 2020 and 2021 California wildfire seasons, which had the highest and second-highest (respectively) numbers of acres burned in the historical record, with a sharp drop in acreage burned.
The 1992 Fountain Fire was a large and destructive wildfire in Shasta County, California. The fire ignited on August 20 in an act of probable but unattributed arson, and was quickly driven northeast by strong winds. It outpaced firefighters for two days, exhibiting extreme behavior such as long-range spot fires, crown fire runs, and pyrocumulonimbus clouds with dry lightning. The fire was contained after burning for nine days, though work to strengthen and repair fire lines continued for more than two months.
Before the Gold Rush in 1849, large parts of California burned every few decades. Lightning fires burned for months, and native tribes burned the land, clearing out dead vegetation. ... Stephens, the UC fire scientist, estimates that before the Gold Rush, roughly 4.5 million acres a year in California burned. By the 1950s and 1960s, that was down to about 250,000 acres a year.
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