El Dorado County, officially the County of El Dorado, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 191,185. The county seat is Placerville. The county is part of the Sacramento-Roseville-Arden-Arcade, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is located entirely in the Sierra Nevada, from the historic Gold Country in the western foothills to the High Sierra in the east. El Dorado County's population has grown as Greater Sacramento has expanded into the region. Where the county line crosses US 50 at Clarksville, the distance to Sacramento is 15 miles (24 km). In the county's high altitude eastern end at Lake Tahoe, environmental awareness and environmental protection initiatives have grown along with the population since the 1960 Winter Olympics, hosted at the former Squaw Valley Ski Resort in neighboring Placer County.
The 2007 Moonlight Fire was a large wildfire that burned near Westwood in Lassen County, California. The fire, which started on September 3, scorched 64,997 acres before being declared contained on September 19. Approximately 2,300 firefighters were involved in fighting the fire. Strong winds pushed smoke to the Sacramento Valley, Bay Area, Nevada and Idaho. In Plumas County, 500 homes were threatened by the Moonlight Fire; 100 residences were evacuated near Greenville in the North Arm area of Indian Valley, as the wild fire was still raging in the Plumas National Forest.
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 Rim Fire was a massive wildfire that started in a remote canyon in the Stanislaus National Forest in California's Tuolumne County. The fire ignited on August 17, 2013, amid the 2013 California wildfire season, and burned 257,314 acres in largely remote areas of the Sierra Nevada, including a large portion of Yosemite National Park. The Rim Fire was fully contained on Thursday, October 24, 2013, after a nine-week suppression effort by firefighters. Due to a lack of winter rains, some logs smoldered in the interior portion of the fire footprint throughout the winter, and more than a year passed before the fire was declared totally extinguished in November 2014.
The 2014 King Fire was a large wildfire in El Dorado County, California, which burned 97,717 acres primarily in the Eldorado National Forest. The wildfire started on September 13, 2014, near Pollock Pines, California, to the east of Sacramento. The ensuing fire suppression effort, which cost more than $100 million and engaged more than 8,000 personnel at its peak, allowed for the full containment of the King Fire by October 9, 2014. Despite the size and ferocity of the fire, it caused no deaths. Eighty structures were destroyed, the majority of them outbuildings. The King Fire was determined to have been caused by an act of arson and a suspect was swiftly apprehended and convicted in 2016.
The Rough Fire was a major wildfire in Fresno County, California, and the largest of the 2015 California wildfire season. The fire was ignited by a lightning strike on July 31 and burned 151,623 acres (61,360 ha), largely in the Sierra National Forest and the Sequoia National Forest, before it was declared contained on November 6, 2015. At the time it occurred, the fire was the thirteenth largest in recorded California history.
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.
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 Thomas Fire was a massive wildfire that affected Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, and one of multiple wildfires that ignited in southern California in December 2017. It burned approximately 281,893 acres before being fully contained on January 12, 2018, making it the largest wildfire in modern California history at the time. It was surpassed by the Ranch Fire, part of the Mendocino Complex, in August 2018. The fire is currently the eighth-largest wildfire in modern California history, as of 2024. The fire was officially declared out on June 1, 2018, after more than two months in which no hotspots were detected. The Thomas Fire destroyed at least 1,063 structures, while damaging 280 others; and the fire caused over $2.2 billion in damages, including $230 million in suppression costs, becoming the seventh-most destructive wildfire in state history at the time. As of August 2020, the Thomas Fire is California's tenth-most destructive wildfire. Ventura's agriculture industry suffered at least $171 million in losses due to the Thomas Fire.
The Creek Fire was a large wildfire that burned in Kagel Canyon and the Angeles National Forest north of Sylmar, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States, and one of multiple wildfires that broke out across Southern California in December 2017. The Creek Fire burned 15,619 acres (63 km2) and destroyed 123 structures, including 60 homes, before being contained on January 9, 2018, following heavy rainfall from a winter storm. The fire threatened the communities of Santa Clarita, Glendale, Olive View, Lake View Terrace, Sunland-Tujunga, Shadow Hills, Sylmar, Pacoima, Lopez Canyon, and Kagel Canyon, as well as the Olive View–UCLA Medical Center. During the wildfire, 115,000 residents were forced to evacuate their homes.
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 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 Whaleback Fire was a wildfire that burned on Whaleback Mountain in Spaulding, approximately 20 miles northwest of Susanville in Lassen County, California, in the United States. First reported on July 27, 2018, the Whaleback Fire burned 18,703 acres (76 km2), before it was fully contained on August 7. The fire caused evacuations in the community of Spaulding and led to closures of portions of Lassen National Forest.
The 2019 California wildfire season was a series of wildfires that burned across the U.S. state of California as part of the 2019 wildfire season. By the end of the year, according to Cal Fire and the US Forest Service, 7,860 fires were recorded, totaling an estimated of 259,823 acres of burned land. These fires caused 22 injuries, 3 fatalities, and damaged or destroyed 732 structures. The 2019 California fire season was less active than that of the two previous years, which set records for acreage, destructiveness, and deaths.
The 2020 Loyalton Fire was a large wildfire in Lassen, Plumas and Sierra counties in California and Washoe County in Nevada. After it was ignited by lightning on August 14, 2020, the fire burned 47,029 acres (19,032 ha) in the Tahoe National Forest and the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest before it was fully contained on August 26. The Loyalton Fire was notable for generating three fire tornadoes on August 15, necessitating first-of-their-kind warnings by the National Weather Service.
The 2020 Creek Fire was a very large wildfire in central California's Sierra National Forest, in Fresno and Madera counties. One of the most significant fires of California's record-setting 2020 wildfire season, it began on September 4, 2020, and burned 379,895 acres (153,738 ha) over several months until it was declared 100% contained on December 24, 2020. The Creek Fire is the sixth-largest wildfire in recorded California history and the third-largest single fire—i.e. not part of a larger wildfire complex—following the 2021 Dixie Fire.
The North Complex Fire was a massive wildfire complex that burned in the Plumas National Forest in Northern California in the counties of Plumas and Butte. Twenty-one fires were started by lightning on August 17, 2020; by September 5, all the individual fires had been put out with the exception of the Claremont and Bear Fires, which merged on that date, and the Sheep Fire, which was then designated a separate incident. On September 8, strong winds caused the Bear/Claremont Fire to explode in size, rapidly spreading to the southwest. On September 8, 2020, the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls were immediately evacuated at 3:15 p.m. PDT with no prior warning. By September 9, 2020, the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls had been leveled, with few homes left standing. The fire threatened the city of Oroville, before its westward spread was stopped. The fire killed 16 people and injured more than 100. The complex burned an estimated 318,935 acres (129,068 ha), and was 100% contained on December 3. The fire was managed by the U.S. Forest Service in conjunction with Cal Fire, with the primary incident base in Quincy. The North Complex Fire is the eighth-largest in California's history, and was the deadliest fire in the 2020 California wildfire season.
The El Dorado Fire was a wildfire that burned 22,744 acres in San Bernardino and Riverside counties of California from September to November 2020. It was ignited on September 5 by a pyrotechnic device at a gender reveal party in El Dorado Ranch Park; it quickly spread to the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area of the San Bernardino National Forest. Burning over a 71-day period, the fire destroyed 20 structures and resulted in one firefighter fatality, for which the couple hosting the party were charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The 2021 California wildfire season was a series of wildfires that burned across the U.S. state of California. By the end of 2021 a total of 8,835 fires were recorded, burning 2,568,948 acres (1,039,616 ha) across the state. Approximately 3,629 structures were damaged or destroyed by the wildfires, and at least seven firefighters and two civilians were injured.
The Tamarack Fire was a wildfire that burned 68,637 acres (27,776 ha), primarily in the Mokelumne Wilderness in Alpine County, California, Douglas County, Nevada and Lyon County, Nevada, as part of the 2021 California wildfire season.
The Mosquito Fire was California's largest wildfire in 2022. The fire began on September 6, burned 76,788 acres in Placer and El Dorado counties in September and October, and was pronounced fully contained on October 22. It affected the Tahoe and Eldorado National Forests and destroyed 78 structures in the rural communities of Michigan Bluff, Foresthill, and Volcanoville. The fire suppression effort cost more than $180 million, and at its peak involved more than 3,700 firefighters. The precise cause of the fire is not known, but the possible role of Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) equipment is the subject of multiple civil lawsuits and a Forest Service investigation. The Mosquito Fire was one of 7,477 wildfires in California in 2022, which burned a combined 331,358 acres (134,096 ha).
