When Wildfire Comes

The 2020 Creek Fire in central California's Sierra National Forest generated an historic pyrocumulonimbus storm cloud and triggered the largest helicopter rescue in National Guard history, all while burning through a heavy forested landscape devastated by massive tree mortality from recent insect kills.  This wildfire spread explosively through mountain communities like Big Creek, Shaver Lake, and Huntington Lake, destroying over 850 structures.  Chief Dustin Hail describes the lessons learned from this unique firestorm event.  Views of the wildfire impacts can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2kndbAGURE

The 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire stands as the largest and most destructive wildfire in the history of New Mexico.  The fire burned 341,470 acres between early April and late June in the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains when the U.S. Forest Service lost control of a prescribed burn.  The Calf Canyon Fire began on April 9 when an improperly extinguished Forest Service pile burn from January rekindled.  Theresa Davis, then a reporter for the Albuquerque Journal, gives a behind-the-scenes account of the impact of this accidental conflagration that destroyed 900  structures and countless livelihoods of ranchers in New Mexico.  Aerial views of the wildfire can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy05VFm3KG0

This episode is in-depth analysis of the August Complex Fire, which was the most massive fire incident that started in August 2020 during the unprecedented lightning wildfire season.  It has officially become the largest wildfire in California's modern  history and is frequently described in slang as the state's first "gigafire" because it burned over one million acres of land, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.   The fire burned through timberlands in three national forests – the Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity, and Six Rivers, until it was contained in early November 2020.  Over 930 rural community structures were destroyed and one firefighter was killed in the line of duty.  Listeners should go to the Facebook page album at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.122141579763079001&type=3 to follow along with the presentation slides.  Recorded comments from firefighters who were on the ground in 2020 trying to control the August Complex fires can be heard at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI9ikgLJ2II

In the summer of 2020, the CZU Complex Fires destroyed 80,000 acres of coastal old-growth redwood forest ecosystems of central CA.   The wildfires started on August 16, 2020 when 11,000 bolts of dry lightning were detected as ground strikes in San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties, igniting hundreds of fires in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Follow along with CALFIRE Chief for Santa Cruz County Nate Armstrong as he describes the fire’s nearly uncontrollable swath of destruction in the numerous steep drainages in Big Basin Redwoods State Park and how the town of Boulder Creek was threatened.  A full scientific study of the CZU Fire severity can be found at https://journal.wildlife.ca.gov/2023/04/12/impacts-of-the-czu-lightning-complex-fire-of-august-2020-on-the-forests-of-big-basin-redwoods-state-park/

The Park Fire is the largest most recent mega-fire in Northern California.   This wildfire damaged several rural communities including burning most structures in the town of Cohasset, CA.  Follow along with Chief Pierce as he describes the fire’s nearly uncontrollable path of destruction in the numerous steep drainages in Butte County and how the town of Paradise was again threatened after being completely destroyed by the Camp Fire of 2018.  Daily progression of the Park Fire can be seen at https://hiform.org/projects/2024-park-fire-lassen-national-forest-ca

The Bear Fire started in the Plumas National Forest of Butte County CA and became the North Complex Fire in 2020, killing sixteen people and destroying thousands of homes in the towns of Berry Creek and Feather Falls.  As the Bear Fire exploded in unprecedented size (burning 220,000 acres in one day) and intensity overnight on September 9, 2020, its plume of smoke eventually covered the entire Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, leading to the event called the "Orange Skies Day" in the Bay Area.  Follow along with Chief Messina as he describes 18 hours of the most intensive wildfire to burn in the recent history of the western US.  Views of the Bear Fire can be viewed at https://gis.data.cnra.ca.gov/maps/CALFIRE-Forestry::north-complex-structure-status-map/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GivCgdNzV2c

The Palisades Fire, which ignited on January 7, 2025, was a catastrophic wildfire in Los Angeles County driven by historically powerful Santa Ana winds.  NOAA incident meteorologist Richard Thompson describes how the humidity levels during this extreme wind event were driven down to critical levels and cast burning embers into the city of Pacific Palisades to ultimately burn nearly 7000 structures.  Listeners can see the progression of the fire into the urban zones of Pacific Palisades by going to the map found at https://the-lookout.org/2025/01/21/progression-of-the-palisades-fire/

Podcast host Christopher Potter presents a new analysis of the destruction of thousands of homes in Altadena, CA during the Eaton Fire of January 2025. Mapping shows how structure density, urban biomass fuels, and wind-driven fire behavior contributed to the intensity of this devastating urban incident. The findings are vital for improving future wildfire risk assessments and informing post-fire recovery and rebuilding strategies in densely populated environments. Listeners should go to https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.122127036741079001&type=3 to follow along with the presentation slides.

Massive cumulonimbus clouds can form over wildfires in the western United States and are likely increasing with the intensity of the wildfires themselves.  Daniel Swain is a climate scientist at the University of California who focuses on the dynamics and impacts of extreme events, including floods, storms, and wildfires.  In this episode, Dr. Swain discusses the formation of firestorms and the climate science that explains them.

The Dixie Fire was an enormous wildfire that burned almost 1 million acres in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama counties in Northern California.   The wildfire damaged or destroyed several rural communities in the Sierra Nevada mountains, including Greenville, CA.  This dynamic visualization (https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4993) shows the spread of the Dixie Fire between July 14 and October 22, 2021, which enables listeners to follow along with Chief Norman, as he describes the fire’s nearly uncontrollable path of mass destruction.