Wildfire — Mountains Southwest Shasta County To Northern Lake County, California

2008-06-21 to 2008-06-30 · Mountains Southwest Shasta County To Northern Lake County, California

Event narrative

Lightning on June 21st started a number of fires in western Tehama and southwestern Shasta counties. Several of these fires were combined as the SHU Complex which included the Whiskeytown Complex. By the end of June, 52,000 acres were burned with 6 firefighter injuries, 3 residences destroyed, and 2 additional buildings damaged. There were also 230 residences and 37 commercial buildings threatened. The fires in the complex extended into the northern Sacramento Valley (CA-Z015) and into the vicinity of Lake Shasta (CA-Z013). The fires had only 15 percent containment at the end of the month and are continued in the July Storm Data entry. In addition, the Yolla Bolly Complex covered 3900 acres but with no injuries or threatened structures. These fires had only 5 percent containment at the end of the month and are also continued in the July Storm Data entry.

Wider weather episode

Numerous thunderstorms with little or no rainfall spread across interior Northern California on June 21st. Approximately 8000 lightning strikes were detected, sparking as many as 2000 wildfires across Northern California. These fires destroyed numerous structures and caused multiple deaths and injuries. Evacuations were ordered for affected communities. Smoke from the wildfires caused respiratory problems across the region. Due to a lack of resources, many fires were not initially attacked with fire crews and some fires were expected to continue to burn for the remainder of the fire season.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 111097. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.