September 11, 2020- As weather conditions improve, firefighters continue to gain ground on the many wildfires that began three weeks ago. Today, over 
14,800 firefighters remain on the line of 28 major wildfires burning across California. Although 24 new fires were sparked yesterday, crews contained most of them quickly.
Since the beginning of the year, wildfires have burned over 3.1 million acres in California. This year’s acres burned is 26 times higher than the acres burned in 2019 for the same time period, and the combined amount of acres burned is larger than the State of Connecticut. There have been 19 fatalities and over 3,900 structures destroyed. The increase in the number of fatalities includes seven additional fatalities that were confirmed yesterday on the North Complex Fire in Butte County. The August Complex Fire increased significantly in acreage due to the merging of the Elkhorn, Hopkins, Willow, and Vinegar fires.
The smoke layer covering much Northern California will help maintain cooler temperatures into the weekend, and an onshore flow next week will help increase humidity. In Southern California, desert regions will remain dry and warm, with the mountains and coastal regions experiencing an onshore flow that is helping with humidity recovery and seasonal temperatures.
Even with cooler weather coming soon, California historically experiences some of the most devastating wildfires in the months of September and October. Do not let your guard down! To learn more ways to prevent sparking a wildfire visit www.ReadyForWildfire.org.
Fires of Interest:
Willow Fire, Yuba County (more info…)
Willow Glen Road, Dobbins
*1,311 acres, 20% contained
*Evacuations in progress
Oak Fire, Mendocino County (more info…)
North of Willits
*1,100 acres, 40% contained
*Evacuations in place
LNU Lightning Complex, multiple North Bay counties (more info…)
Napa, Lake, Sonoma, Colusa, Solano, and Yolo Counties
*363,220 acres, 95% contained
*Hennessey (merged fires) 305,651 acres, 95% contained
*Wallbridge 55,209 acres, 95% contained
*1,491 structures destroyed
*Evacuations in place
*CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 2 in command
SCU Lightning Complex, multiple Easy Bay counties (more info…)
Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara San Joaquin, Merced, and Stanislaus Counties
*396,624 acres, 98% contained
*20 fires in the complex, several have merged together
*Evacuations and road closures in place
*224 structures destroyed
*CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 6 command
CZU August Lightning Complex, San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties (more info…)
*86,509 acres, 85% contained
*Multiple fires
*Evacuations and road closures in place
*1,490 structures destroyed
*CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 3 command
Schoolhouse, Siskiyou County (more info…)
Schoolhouse Gap Road, north of Fort Jones
*45 acres, grass and brush, 50% contained
*Forward spread stopped
**Unified Command Incidents**
North Complex, Plumas County (more info…)
Southwest of Susanville (Plumas National Forest)
*252,534 acres, 23% contained
*Evacuations in place
*Includes the Bear and Claremont Fire
*CAL FIRE Team 4 is now in unified command with US Forest Service IMT Team 4
Creek Fire, Fresno County (more info…)
Northeast of Shaver Lake (Sierra National Forest)
*175,893 acres, 6% contained
*Evacuations in effect
*Heavy tree mortality in the area
*CAL FIRE and US Forest Service in unified command
*CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 1
*Great Basin Team 1
Valley Fire, San Diego County (more info…)
Near Alpine (Cleveland National Forest)
*17,665 acres, 39% contained
*Evacuations in effect
*CAIIMT 15 in command
*CAL FIRE and US Forest Service in unified command
El Dorado Fire, San Bernardino County (more info…)
West of Oak Glen (San Bernardino National Forest)
*13,715 acres, 31% contained
*Evacuations in place
*California Interagency Incident Management Team 11 in unified command with CAL FIRE, Yucaipa Fire Department and San Bernardino County Fire Department
Butte/Tehama/Glenn (BTU/TGU) Lightning Complex, multiple Counties (more info…)
Butte, Tehama and Glenn Counties
*19,609 acres, 95% contained
*Includes multiple other smaller fires
*Decrease in acres as Elkhorn was moved to the August Complex.
*16 structures destroyed
**Federal Incidents**
August Complex, Tehama County (more info…)
Elk Creek and Stonyford area (Mendocino National Forest)
*746,607 acres 25% contained
*Merged fires including Elkhorn, Hopkins, Willow, and Vinegar
*Includes multiple fires including the Doe Fire
*A California Interagency incident Management Team and Great Basin Team in command
*A CAL FIRE Incident Management Team is deployed on the west zone of the fire.
Devil Fire, Siskiyou County
Klamath National Forest
*4,000 acres, 0% contained
Fork Fire, El Dorado County (more info…)
15 miles northeast of Pollock Pines (El Dorado National Forest)
*2,200 acres, 7% contained
*Evacuation orders remain in place
Slater Fire, Siskiyou County, (more info…)
5 miles North of Happy Camp (Klamath National Forest)
*140,802 acres, timber, 0% contained
*Evacuations orders in place
Bobcat Fire, Los Angeles County (more info…)
North of Duarte
Angeles National Forest
*26,368 acres, 6% containment
*Evacuations in progress
*EA Silver Team in command
Lake Fire, Los Angeles County (more info…)
Southwest of Lake Hughes
Angeles National Forest / Los Angeles County Fire Department
* 31,089 acres, 96% contained
Dolan Fire, Monterey County (more info…)
Hwy 1, 10 miles south of Big Sur (Los Padres National Forest)
*113,486 acres, 26% contained
*Structures threatened
*Type 1 NW Team 2 (Allen) in command
Apple Fire, Riverside County (more info…)
Oak Glen/Cherry Valley (San Bernardino National Forest)
*33,424 acres, 95% contained
Red Salmon Complex – Humboldt County (more info…)
14 miles northeast of Willow Creek (Shasta-Trinity National Forest)
*76,996 acres, 19% contained
SQF Complex, Tulare County (more info…)
25 miles north of Kernville (Sequoia National Forest)
*68,093 acres, 12% contained
*Castle and Shotgun Fires merged into this complex
W-5 Cold Springs, Lassen County (more info…)
11 miles east of Madeline (Bureau of Land Management - Northern CA District)
*84,817 acres, 98% containment
Blue Jay Fire, Mariposa County (more info…)
Yosemite National Park Wilderness
*3,132 acres, 20% contained
Wolf Fire, Tuolumne County (more info…)
Yosemite National Park Wilderness
*704 acres, 10% contained
Woodward Fire, Marin County (more info…)
3 miles southwest of Olema (Point Reyes National Seashore)
*4,910 acres, 95% contained
Slink Fire, Mono County (more info…)
2 miles west of Coleville (Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest)
*23,023 acres, 40% contained
Moraine, Tulare County https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7089/. Click or tap if you trust this link. (more info…)
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Wilderness
*575 acres, 70% contained
Rattlesnake, Tulare County https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7131/. Click or tap if you trust this link. (more info…)
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Wilderness
*1,411 acres, 0% contained
Top 20 Wildfire Records
- 5 of the Top 20 largest wildfires in California History have occurred in 2020.
- Largest Wildfires - #1 August Complex (Elkhorn Fire was merged with the August Complex), #3 SCU Lightning Complex, #4 LNU Lightning Complex, #9 North Complex, and #16 Creek Fire.
- Most Destructive - #9 LNU Lightning Complex and #10 CZU August Lightning Complex
- Deadliest Wildfires - #10 North Complex, and #20 LNU Lightning Complex
Source: CAL FIRE
