Wildfire — Sequoia Kings, California

2020-11-01 to 2020-11-30 · Sequoia Kings, California

Event narrative

The SQF complex saw only small growth in November as up to a foot of snow fell on the higher elevations of the fire. That was the only precipitation for the month. The final size was 174,178 acres by the end of November with no additional growth expected. The Castle Fire burned on portions of the Sequoia National Forest and Giant Sequoia National Monument (129,975 acres), Inyo National Forest (12,283 acres), Sequoia National Park (18,292 acres), lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (728 acres), State (4,036 acres), County, and private lands (4,726 acres) and threatened the Tule River Indian Reservation.

Containment of the SQF Complex was 90% for the portion of the fire managed by the Sequoia National Forest. Due to limited access to the fires edge in remote locations, full containment is not expected until it can be assessed on the ground. Most uncontained lines are at higher elevations where natural barriers have stopped the spread, and winter conditions will likely extinguish any remaining hot spots. The cost of containment was $120 Million.

Wider weather episode

The lightning caused Castle fire was discovered on the morning of August 19, 2020. It was located 25 miles north of Kernville on the Sequoia National Forest and just a few miles east of the Giant Sequoia National Monument. It grew slowly at first, reaching 2000 acres on August 23rd. It grew rapidly to 15,000 acres by August 25th and to 35,674 acres by August 31st. The rapid growth resulted in evacuations of several small mountain communities and the closure of Highway 190 and several other mountain roads. On August 29, the Castle fire was combined with the smaller Shot Gun fire to become the SQF Complex. The fire grew to 151,436 acres by the end of September and to 170,165 acres by the end of October. The fire continued a slow growth in November and ended the month at 174,178 acres and 90 percent contained.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 923445. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.