Wildfire — Del Norte Interior, California

2023-08-15 to 2023-08-31 · Del Norte Interior, California

Event narrative

Dry thunderstorms produced numerous lightning strikes across the Six Rivers National Forest. Twenty-seven fires developed within the Gasquet Ranger District creating the Smith River Complex. The complex grew in size rapidly in the first couple of weeks of the fire, jumping U.S. highway 199 causing it's closure for 3 weeks and resulting in the evacuation of the town of Gasquet. The fire also destroyed the high tension powerlines powering all of Del Norte County. The county was completely without power through August 25th when generators were installed to power the community. Main transmission lines were not repaired until September 10th when full power was restored. The fire continued to burn through September into October with fewer impacts to the community with a total of 95,000 acres burned plus 2 residences and 3 minor structures destroyed.

Wider weather episode

Lingering moisture from a dissipated tropical system brought dry thunderstorms to Northwest California from the evening of August 14th through the morning of August 15th. Over 1,000 lightning strikes occurred in 24 hours with numerous new wildfires across the region. The Smith River Complex in Del Norte County developed into the most notable fire causing power outages to all of Del Norte County and the closure of a U.S. highway for several weeks.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1136321. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.