2020 California wildfires

The 2020 California wildfire season is a series of wildfires that are burning across the state of California. The peak of the wildfire season usually occurs between August and November when hot, dry winds are most frequent. The wildfire season typically does not end until the first significant rainstorm of winter arrives, which is usually around October in Northern California, and roughly between late October to December in Southern California. As of August 16, 2020, a total of 6,506 fires have burned 276,574 acres (111,926 ha) according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.[1]

2020 California wildfires
Statistics[1]
Total fires	6,506
Total area	276,574 acres (111,926 ha)
Cost	unknown
Deaths	1
Non-fatal injuries	5
Season
← 2019 2021 →

Aurora Fire

Early outlook

Early in the year, there was a concern for the potential 2020 fire season to be prolonged and especially grave due to the unusually dry months of January and February which were recorded as one of the driest first two months of any calendar year on record.[2] On March 22, a state of emergency was declared by California governor Gavin Newsom due to a mass die-off of trees throughout the state, potentially increasing the risk of wildfires.[3] Throughout March and April, rain began to consistently fall in the state which lessened the severe drying conditions. However, Northern California was expected to have severe wildfire conditions due to the moderate or severe drought conditions in the area, whereas Central and Southern California were expected to have serious fire conditions later in the year due to the late wet season and precipitation.[4]

Wildfires

The following is a list of fires that burned more than 1,000 acres (400 ha), or produced significant structural damage or casualties.

Name	County	Acres	Start date	Containment date	Notes	Ref
Interstate 5	Kings	2,060	May 3	May 7		[5]
Range	San Luis Obispo	5,000	May 27	May 28		[6]
Scorpion	Santa Barbara	1,395	May 31	June 1		[7]
Quail	Solano	1,837	June 6	June 10	3 structures destroyed	[8][9]
Wood	San Diego	11,000	June 8	June 12	Burned on Camp Pendleton	[10]
India	San Diego	1,100	June 8	June 14	Burning on Camp Pendleton	[11]
Soda	San Luis Obispo	1,672	June 10	June 11	2 structures destroyed	[12][13]
Grant	Sacramento	5,042	June 12	June 17		[14]
Walker	Calaveras	1,455	June 16	June 20	2 structures destroyed	[15]
River	San Luis Obispo	15	June 22	June 23	2 structures destroyed, 9 damaged	[16]
Grade	Tulare	1,050	June 22	June 26		[17]
Pass	Merced	2,192	June 28	June 30		[18]
Bena	Kern	2,900	July 1	July 3		[19]
Crews	Santa Clara	5,513	July 5	July 13	1 structure destroyed; 1 damaged; 1 injury. Resulted in evacuations of rural Gilroy.	[20]
Soledad	Los Angeles	1,525	July 5	July 15	1 injury	[21]
Mineral	Fresno	29,667	July 13	July 26	7 structures destroyed	[22] [23]
Coyote	San Benito	1,508	July 15	July 18		[24]
Hog	Lassen	9,564	July 18	August 8	2 structures destroyed	[25]
Gold	Lassen	22,634	July 20	August 8	13 structures destroyed; 5 structures damaged; 2 firefighters injured in burnover	[26]
July Complex 2020	Modoc, Siskiyou	83,261	July 22	August 7	1 structure destroyed; 3 outbuildings destroyed	[27]
Red Salmon Complex	Humboldt, Siskiyou, Trinity	12,856	July 26	34% Contained as of August 13	Burning as both the Red Fire (12,077 acres) and the Salmon Fire (805 acres); both started by lightning strikes	[28][29]
Apple	Riverside	33,424	July 31	90% Contained as of August 14	4 structures destroyed; 8 outbuildings destroyed; 1 firefighter injured	[30]
Pond	San Luis Obispo	1,962	August 1	August 8	1 structure destroyed; 1 damaged; 13 outbuildings destroyed[31]	[32]
North	Lassen	6,882	August 2	August 10	6,882 acres in total, of which approximately 4,105 acres burned in Washoe County, Nevada	[33]
Stagecoach	Kern	7,760	August 3	99% Contained as of August 12	23 structures destroyed; 4 damaged; 25 outbuildings destroyed; 2 damaged;[34] 1 firefighter fatality[35]	[36]
Lake	Los Angeles	18,526	August 12	31% Contained as of August 17	12 structures destroyed; 3 damaged; 21 outbuildings destroyed	[37]
Ranch2	Los Angeles	2,256	August 13	7% Contained as of August 16		[38]
Loyalton	Lassen, Plumas, Sierra	36,295	August 15	5% Contained as of August 17	Caused National Weather Service to issue first ever Fire Tornado Warning	[39][40]
River	Monterey	2,000	August 16	10% Contained as of August 16	4 injuries	[41]
Canyon Zone	Stanislaus	3,000	August 16	0% Contained as of August 16	4 separate fires	[42]

See also

• Climate change in California
• List of California wildfires

References

1. "Fire Statistics". CAL FIRE. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
2. Leonard, Diana. "Dry California winter prompts wildfire and drought concerns". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
3. Daniels, Jeff. "California Gov. Gavin Newsom declares state of emergency due to increased wildfire risk". CNBC. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
4. Roach, John. "What's expected for the 2020 California wildfire season?". AccuWeather. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
5. "Interstate 6 Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. May 7, 2020.
6. "Range Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. May 28, 2020.
7. "Scorpion Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. June 1, 2020.
8. Moleski, Vincent (June 7, 2020). "Quail fire outside Vacaville surpasses 1,800 acres". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
9. "Quail Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. June 7, 2020.
10. "Wood Fire Containment Information". twitter.com/MCIWPendletonCA. June 12, 2020.
11. "India Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. June 9, 2020.
12. "Soda Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. June 11, 2020.
13. "Soda Fire Now 100% Contained". KEYT.com. June 11, 2020.
14. "Grant Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. June 11, 2020.
15. "Walker Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. June 11, 2020.
16. "Paso Robles River Fire 100% contained; evacuations to be lifted at 3 p.m." KSBY News. June 23, 2020.
17. "Grade Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. June 26, 2020.
18. "Pass Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. June 28, 2020.
19. "Bena Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. June 11, 2020.
20. "Crews Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. July 5, 2020.
21. "Soledad Fire Information - InciWeb the Incident Information System". inciweb.nwcg.gov. July 5, 2020.
22. "Mineral Fire Information - InciWeb the Incident Information System". inciweb.nwcg.gov. July 14, 2020.
23. "Mineral Fire 2020 Information". fire.ca.gov. July 13, 2020.
24. fire.ca.gov. July 16, 2020 https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/7/15/coyote-fire/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
25. "Hog Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. July 5, 2020.
26. "Gold Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. July 21, 2020.
27. "July Complex 2020 Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. July 23, 2020.
28. "Red Salmon Complex Fire Information". inciweb.nwcg.gov/. August 2, 2020.
29. "Interactive Map with acerage for both Red and Salmon fires". ucanr.edu. August 3, 2020.
30. "Apple Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. July 31, 2020.
31. Staff, KSBY. "UPDATE: Pond Fire 67% contained, 2,005 acres burned". KSBY. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
32. "Pond Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. August 2, 2020.
33. "North Fire Information". inciweb.nwcg.gov/. August 3, 2020.
34. "Stagecoach Fire now 7,760 acres, 64% contained and 37 structures destroyed". KBAK-TV. August 4, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
35. "Firefighter Dies While Assigned to Stagecoach Fire". KNBC. August 12, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
36. "Stagecoach Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. August 3, 2020.
37. "Lake Fire Information". inciweb.nwcg.gov/. August 12, 2020.
38. "Ranch2 Fire Information". inciweb.nwcg.gov/. August 13, 2020.
39. "Loyalton Fire Information". inciweb.nwcg.gov. August 16, 2020.
40. "Loyalton Fire Tornado Warning". twitter.com. August 16, 2020.
41. "River Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. August 16, 2020.
42. "Canyon Zone Fire Information". fire.ca.gov. August 16, 2020.

External links

• Current fire information — California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)