Wildfire — West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada, California

2008-06-21 to 2008-06-30 · West Slope Northern Sierra Nevada, California

Event narrative

Lightning strikes resulted in the development of the American River Fire Complex (located 11 miles northeast of Foresthill) and the Yuba River Complex (located 15 miles northeast of Grass Valley). Combined, the fires burned 7,142 acres, injured 12 firefighters, destroyed 1 residence, and threatened 116 additional structures. The fires had only 35 percent containment by the end of the month and are 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 111337. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.