LNU Lightning Complex fires

LNU Lightning Complex fires
Date(s)	August 17, 2020 (2020-08-17) –
Location	Northern California Lake Napa Sonoma Solano Yolo
Statistics
Total fires	250
Total area	At least 350,000 acres (141,640 ha)
Impacts
Deaths	5 civilians
Non-fatal injuries	4
Structures destroyed	1,080 structures destroyed, 250 damaged
Ignition
Cause	Lightning

Aetna

Walbridge

Walbridge

Stewarts

Markley

Hennessey

Spanish

Green

Round

Gamble

Morgan

  

Location of Northern California wildfires

The LNU Lightning Complex fires are wildfires currently burning during the 2020 California wildfire season across much of the Wine Country area of Northern California – Lake, Napa, Sonoma, Solano, and Yolo Counties. The Complex is made of numerous lightning-sparked fires, most of which are small. However, while they initially started separate from each other, the Hennessey Fire eventually grew to merge with the Gamble, Green, Markley, Spanish, and Morgan Fires, scorching 192,000 acres (777 km²) by itself, for a complex total of 352,913 acres (1,428 km²). The fire is 33% contained and burning in the hills surrounding several large cities, such as Fairfield, Napa, and Vacaville, as 1,080 structures have already been destroyed, and a further 250 damaged. The complex has also killed five people and injured four others.

Name

The name of the complex fire refers to the name of the local unit of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Sonoma–Lake–Napa Unit (LNU).

Timeline

In the early morning hours of Sunday, August 16, and again on Monday, August 17, a series of highly unusual thunderstorms rolled through most of northern California as an offshoot of the diminishing Tropical Storm Fausto. With these thunderstorms came a reported 10,849 lightning strikes that – within a 72 hour period – had then presumably sparked 376 known fires across much of the state.

Early on Monday, August 17, at around 6:40 am PDT a spotfire was reported burning in the 60 block of Hennessey Ridge Road near Lake Hennessey which was then dubbed the Hennessey Fire. The incident was reported alongside several other fires burning not far from it, most notably the Gamble Fire which began burning in an area off Berryessa Knoxville Road north of Lake Berryessa and west of state Highway 16, the Spanish Fire which was burning near Spanish Flat, the 15-10 Fire burning near the Putah Bridge and the Markley Fire near the Monticello Dam. All of which had been reportedly burning almost completely unchecked as resources meant to combat the incidents had been stretched thin due to the onslaught of new and persisting fires throughout the state. Due to this factor, the fires were not contained during their most critical early phases, and by the evening of that day, the multiple conflagrations sizes were all ranging between 1,000 and 8,000 acres with 0% containment for each fire.

Fires

Name	County	Acres	Start date	Containment date	Deaths	Notes	Ref
Hennessey	Napa	293,602	August 17, 2020	33% contained as of August 27		Merged with the Gamble, Green, Aetna, Markley, Spanish, Morgan and Round fires.
Walbridge	Sonoma	54,068	August 17, 2020	19% as of August 27		Merged with the Stewarts Fire
Meyers	Sonoma	2,360	August 17, 2020	97% as of August 27

References

 This article incorporates text from https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/8/17/lnu-lightning-complex-includes-hennessey-gamble-15-10-spanish-markley-13-4-11-16/, a public domain work of the Government of California.

External links

• Les incendies font rage en Californie ! Août 2020 raw footage
• LNU Lightning Complex Fires Burn in California - Aug. 18 / 21, 2020
• Large Wildfires Burn in California - Aug 25 2020