2018 California wildfires
The 2018 California wildfires were a prolonged series of conflagrations that scorched nearly 1.98 million acres across the state, destroyed over 24,000 structures, and claimed 100 lives, marking one of the most devastating wildfire seasons in California's history.[1] Occurring primarily from July through December amid hot, dry conditions and strong winds, the fires ignited through a combination of lightning strikes, human activities, and utility infrastructure failures, with several major blazes fueled by decades of accumulated dead vegetation from fire suppression policies.[1] The season's toll included the displacement of tens of thousands of residents and economic damages exceeding $148 billion nationwide, driven by property losses, health impacts from smoke, and business disruptions.[2] Key events included the Mendocino Complex Fire, a merger of multiple blazes that burned 459,123 acres—California's largest single wildfire complex to date—and destroyed 280 structures while killing one firefighter.[1] The Camp Fire, erupting in November in Butte County, rapidly engulfed the town of Paradise, killing 85 civilians and razing over 18,000 buildings in what became the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state records.[1] Other significant fires, such as the Carr, Ferguson, and Woolsey fires, further compounded the destruction, with the latter threatening urban areas near Los Angeles and exposing liabilities in power line maintenance by utilities like PG&E, which faced subsequent lawsuits and contributed to the company's bankruptcy filing.[1] The wildfires underscored systemic issues in land management, including overdue prescribed burns and fuel reduction efforts hampered by regulatory and environmental constraints, as well as the growing interface between wildlands and human development.[3] Federal and state responses involved massive mobilizations of firefighters, aerial resources, and National Guard deployments, yet the events fueled debates over prevention strategies prioritizing empirical fuel load reduction over politically influenced narratives.[1]Preconditions
Weather and Fuel Conditions
The 2012–2016 drought in California resulted in the mortality of approximately 129 million trees, primarily due to bark beetle infestations exacerbated by prolonged water stress, leaving vast quantities of standing dead timber and downed fuels that remained highly flammable into subsequent years.[4] This desiccation extended to soils and understory vegetation, reducing overall ecosystem moisture retention and priming landscapes for rapid ignition and spread when conditions aligned. The heavy legacy fuels from this period contributed to elevated fire potential across forested regions, independent of immediate precipitation patterns.[5] The unusually wet winter of 2016–2017 stimulated abundant growth of fine fuels, including grasses and shrubs, which matured and cured under the hot, dry conditions of summer 2018. California experienced below-average rainfall through much of 2018, with a delayed onset of autumn precipitation that kept dead fuel moistures critically low—often below 5% for 1-hour timelag fuels—and live fuel moistures similarly depleted due to record-high temperatures and persistent low relative humidity.[6] [5] Energy release component (ERC) indices, which integrate fuel moisture, temperature, and humidity to gauge potential fire intensity, reached historic highs in northern and central California during the late summer and fall, reflecting extreme aridity across multiple fuel timelag classes.[7] Extreme wind events, particularly Diablo winds—strong, dry downslope northeasterlies originating from high pressure over the Great Basin—intensified fire weather in October and November. These winds, with sustained speeds of 15–30 mph and gusts frequently exceeding 50 mph (up to 60–90 mph in exposed ridges), drove ember transport and convective spread while relative humidity plummeted to 5–15%, desiccating fuels further and enabling plume-dominated fire behavior.[8] [9] Such conditions were recurrent across the Sierra Nevada foothills and coastal ranges, amplifying the vulnerability of desiccated landscapes to rapid fire progression.[10]Forest Management Practices
Fire suppression policies implemented since the early 20th century, particularly following the U.S. Forest Service's adoption of a 10 a.m. policy in 1935 aiming to contain all fires by the next morning, have substantially altered California's forest ecosystems by preventing natural low-intensity burns that historically maintained fuel loads.[11] This approach, while effective at initial suppression, resulted in the accumulation of dead and downed woody material, understory vegetation, and overcrowded tree stands, increasing overall fuel continuity and density beyond pre-settlement conditions.[12] Empirical assessments indicate that tree densities in many California forests, especially in the Sierra Nevada, have risen significantly—often by factors of 2 to 10 times historical levels in suppressed areas—contributing to heightened vulnerability to high-severity fires.[13][14] Efforts to mitigate fuel overload through prescribed burns and mechanical thinning remained limited prior to 2018, treating only a fraction of the land requiring intervention. U.S. Forest Service data show that prescribed fire treatments on California national forests peaked at approximately 63,711 acres in 2018, with prior years averaging lower volumes amid regulatory, logistical, and funding constraints.[15] Statewide, including CAL FIRE activities, total prescribed burns covered around 87,000 acres in 2018 across 33 million acres of forestland, far short of the millions of acres experts identify as needing regular treatment to restore resilience.[16] Thinning projects, which remove excess smaller trees to reduce competition and ladder fuels, faced similar barriers, including environmental litigation and air quality restrictions that curtailed operations.[17] Complicating these shortcomings, approximately 57 percent of California's 33 million acres of forestland falls under federal jurisdiction, primarily U.S. Forest Service management, creating overlaps with state and private lands that often delay coordinated action.[18] Federal underfunding for maintenance—evident in stagnant treatment acres despite rising risks—has exacerbated the suppression legacy, as resources prioritize emergency response over proactive fuels reduction.[19] Joint state-federal strategies, such as those formalized in 2020, highlight the need to address these gaps, but pre-2018 implementation lagged due to bureaucratic silos and insufficient allocation.[20]Wildland-Urban Interface Development
The wildland-urban interface (WUI) in California encompasses areas where human development abuts or intermingles with flammable wildland vegetation, creating heightened fire exposure for structures. By 2018, California's WUI housed approximately 45% of the state's housing units across roughly 28,575 square kilometers, reflecting decades of residential expansion into fire-prone landscapes.[21] Between 1990 and 2020, WUI housing units grew 42%, from 3.6 million to 5.1 million, adding over 1.5 million homes in zones classified as moderate to very high fire hazard severity by state mapping.[22] This proliferation, driven by population pressures and land-use preferences, positioned dense clusters of homes—often with structure densities exceeding 100 per square kilometer in intermix areas—directly adjacent to unmanaged fuels, amplifying ignition potential from embers and radiant heat.[23] Local zoning policies and building standards prior to 2018 frequently accommodated development in these high-risk zones with insufficient mitigation, permitting non-fire-resistant materials like untreated wood siding and shake roofs despite documented ember vulnerabilities from events such as the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, which destroyed over 3,000 structures via spot ignitions.[24] California's Chapter 7A building code, mandating ignition-resistant construction in state responsibility areas, applied unevenly to local jurisdictions, where variances and exemptions allowed combustible defensible space encroachments within 5-100 feet of structures.[25] Research indicates homes built before 2008, under less rigorous standards, faced roughly twice the destruction risk compared to post-2008 builds, as older designs lacked Class A roofing or hardened vents to counter wind-driven embers traveling miles ahead of flame fronts.[26] In the 2018 wildfires, WUI proximity directly exacerbated losses, with analyses of major events like the Camp and Woolsey Fires showing 75-85% structure destruction rates in interface communities versus lower rates in non-WUI urban cores.[27] Of the approximately 24,000 structures lost statewide, the overwhelming majority—empirically over 80% in aggregated fire perimeters—occurred in WUI zones, where vegetation continuity enabled rapid transition from wildland to residential ignition without adequate buffers.[28] This pattern underscores unchecked interface growth as a causal multiplier, independent of fuel loads or weather, by embedding vulnerable assets in ember-susceptible envelopes.[29]Ignition and Progression
Key Ignition Events
The Camp Fire ignited at approximately 6:15 a.m. on November 8, 2018, near Pulga in Butte County, when a rusted hook (C-hook) on Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) transmission tower 128/2 failed under high winds, causing conductors to separate and contact the tower, sparking embers into dry vegetation below.[30][31] The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) root cause analysis identified PG&E's inadequate inspections—none conducted since 2001—and failure to replace degraded components as primary factors, despite known risks from prior assessments.[30] CAL FIRE investigators independently confirmed the utility's electrical transmission lines as the source.[32] The Woolsey Fire began around 2:22 p.m. on November 8, 2018, in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, originating from arcing contact between Southern California Edison (SCE) transmission conductors and a tower component during Santa Ana winds exceeding 50 mph.[33] CPUC investigation attributed the ignition to SCE's insufficient maintenance of aged infrastructure, including unaddressed corrosion and inadequate vegetation management near the site.[34] The Mendocino Complex Fire's Ranch Fire component, which became California's largest single fire by acreage, sparked on July 27, 2018, in Colusa County from hot metal fragments generated when a private contractor hammered a metal stake into rocky ground during fence repair, igniting nearby grass.[35] CAL FIRE determined the cause through witness statements and physical evidence, noting the absence of intentional arson or equipment malfunction but emphasizing human activity in a high-risk fuel bed.[36] The complex expanded via subsequent lightning ignitions, but the initial Ranch event set the trajectory for over 459,000 acres burned.[1] The Carr Fire started at about 1:15 p.m. on July 23, 2018, along Carr Powerhouse Road in Shasta County, triggered by sparks from a malfunctioning wheel assembly on a towed travel trailer's flat tire rubbing against pavement in extreme heat over 100°F.[37][38] CAL FIRE and National Park Service reports cited mechanical failure without negligence, confirmed by debris analysis and vehicle forensics, leading to rapid upslope growth under gusty winds.[37]Rapid Spread Dynamics
The rapid spread of the 2018 California wildfires was primarily driven by downslope foehn winds, known locally as Diablo winds in northern regions, which compressed air descending from the Sierra Nevada, resulting in gusts up to 52 mph that rapidly desiccated fuels and enhanced fire intensity.[39] These winds, characterized by adiabatic warming and relative humidities dropping below 10%, hastened fuel moisture loss, transitioning surface fires into active crowns within dense chaparral and conifer stands where continuous fine fuels facilitated vertical flame development.[40] Ember transport under such gusts extended spotting distances, with short-range ground-level spotting contributing to discontinuous fire fronts ahead of the main blaze.[41] Fire behavior models, such as those incorporating Rothermel's rate-of-spread equations adjusted for wind and fuel continuity, predicted explosive growth under these conditions, with observed rates exceeding 3-4 km/h (approximately 2 mph) in crown phases where wind alignment with slope amplified forward heat flux.[42] In chaparral ecosystems, the dense, ladder-like structure of shrubs and trees enabled rapid crown fire transitions, sustaining high-intensity runs as winds exceeding 40 mph tilted flame angles and increased convective heat transfer.[43] Sustained wind speeds of 25-30 mph with gusts to 50 mph further propelled this by drying live fuels and promoting spotting that bypassed barriers.[44] Topographic features exacerbated spread through channelling effects, where canyons funneled downslope winds, locally intensifying velocities and directing fire uphill along drainages, as simulated in coupled weather-fire models like CAWFE that accounted for terrain-induced acceleration.[45] This funneling aligned wind vectors with slopes, boosting rates of spread via enhanced preheating and oxygen supply, independent of broader fuel loading variations.[46] Such dynamics underscored the primacy of meteorological forcing over static fuels in dictating initial perimeter growth during these events.[47]Major Fires
Camp Fire
The Camp Fire ignited at approximately 6:15 a.m. on November 8, 2018, near Pulga Road in Butte County, California, when a high-voltage conductor separated from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) transmission tower 27/222 due to the failure of a forged steel suspension hook, causing the line to contact the ground and spark dry vegetation. [32] [48] CAL FIRE investigators determined the cause as PG&E's electrical transmission lines, with forensic analysis confirming the hook's corrosion and wear led to the mechanical failure under 50 mph northeast winds. [49] [39] Fueled by extreme drought conditions, heavy fuel loads, and sustained winds exceeding 40 mph, the fire rapidly progressed westward, impacting the communities of Concow and Paradise within 90 minutes of ignition. [50] By 8:30 a.m., embers and direct flame front had overrun Paradise, igniting structures and trapping residents amid chaotic evacuations on limited two-lane roads like Skyway and Highway 191, where traffic gridlock and visibility near zero from smoke contributed to burnovers. The town, home to approximately 26,000 residents, saw 85% of its buildings destroyed within hours, resulting in 85 civilian fatalities—primarily from vehicle entrapment or sheltering in place—as the fire's speed overwhelmed escape routes. [51] [52] The fire continued spreading northwest through Magalia and into forested areas, burning through rugged terrain in the Plumas National Forest and Sierra Nevada foothills over the following 17 days, ultimately scorching 153,336 acres across Butte, Tehama, and Plumas counties. [39] Firefighting efforts involved over 5,000 personnel, aerial retardant drops, and backburn operations, but persistent red flag warnings delayed progress until winds subsided. [50] Full containment was achieved on November 25, 2018, after the fire threatened additional communities and infrastructure while exhibiting extreme fire behavior including spotting up to 3 miles ahead of the flank. [39]
Woolsey Fire
The Woolsey Fire ignited on November 8, 2018, at approximately 2:22 p.m. near the Santa Susana Field Laboratory on the border of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties, sparked by contact between a loose guy wire and energized electrical distribution equipment owned by Southern California Edison during extreme Santa Ana winds.[53][54] The fire rapidly expanded under gusts exceeding 70 mph, burning through dense chaparral and grasslands in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area before advancing into densely populated wildland-urban interface (WUI) zones.[55][56] Ultimately, it scorched 96,949 acres across both counties and was fully contained on November 21, 2018.[57][53] The fire's progression highlighted vulnerabilities in Los Angeles County's WUI, where suburban development abuts unmanaged wildlands, allowing embers to ignite homes amid insufficient defensible space and zoning restrictions that limited vegetation clearing.[58] Santa Ana winds propelled firebrands across highways and into Malibu's coastal enclaves, destroying 1,643 structures, including high-value residences in fragmented exurban layouts that complicated suppression efforts.[57][56] Firefighters faced challenges accessing steep terrain interspersed with private properties lacking hardened building standards, such as ember-resistant vents or fire-rated roofs, exacerbating spot fires in urban fringes.[58] A particular risk arose from the fire's origin and early spread across the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, a former nuclear research site with historical contamination, prompting concerns over potential airborne radionuclide releases amid the blaze's intensity.[59][60] Although the flames threatened adjacent infrastructure, post-fire assessments detected no significant offsite transport of hazardous materials from the site, attributing containment of risks to wind shifts and on-site monitoring rather than inherent site safeguards.[59] This episode underscored causal factors like utility infrastructure in high-fire-risk zones interacting with meteorological extremes, distinct from purely natural ignitions in remote areas.[53]Mendocino Complex Fire
The Mendocino Complex Fire began on July 27, 2018, when the River Fire and Ranch Fire ignited separately in Lake and Mendocino Counties, northern California, before merging into a unified complex. The Ranch Fire, the dominant component, was sparked by a hot metal fragment produced when a property owner hammered a metal stake into dry ground. The River Fire's cause remained under investigation as of later reports. Together, these multi-origin fires expanded rapidly amid extreme heat, low humidity, and gusty winds, burning a total of 459,123 acres—410,203 acres from the Ranch Fire and 48,920 acres from the River Fire—making it the largest wildfire complex in California history at the time, a record held until the 2020 August Complex surpassed it.[61][62][63][64] The complex primarily scorched remote, rural landscapes with dense chaparral, timber, and grasslands, destroying 280 structures, including 157 residences, while threatening thousands more in surrounding areas. Firefighting efforts involved thousands of personnel, heavy equipment, and aerial support, but challenging terrain and weather prolonged containment. Tragically, one firefighter, Captain Jeremy Baxter of the Mendocino National Forest, died on August 13, 2018, from injuries sustained when a tree fell on him during operations on the Ranch Fire; three other firefighters were injured in related incidents. No civilian fatalities occurred.[65][66] Full containment was achieved on September 18, 2018, after 53 days of active suppression, though mop-up operations extended into early 2019 due to lingering hot spots. The fire's scale prompted evacuations of over 13,000 people and significant resource mobilization, including interagency task forces. Post-fire assessments highlighted the complex's role in the 2018 season's overall severity, with burned areas later showing increased erosion risks during subsequent rains.[64][65][61]Other Significant Fires
The Carr Fire, ignited on July 23, 2018, near Redding in Shasta and Trinity counties, burned 229,651 acres, destroyed 1,079 structures, and resulted in eight fatalities, including three firefighters.[67] [68] The fire was caused by sparks from a vehicle's rim after a tire failure on a trailer.[69] It produced a rare fire whirl resembling a tornado that damaged parts of Redding, underscoring urban threats from wildfires encroaching on populated areas.[70] The Ferguson Fire, starting July 13, 2018, in Mariposa County near Yosemite National Park, scorched 96,901 acres and destroyed 11 structures.[71] It claimed the lives of two firefighters and injured 13 others, with ignition traced to a vehicle's catalytic converter overheating and sparking dry vegetation.[72] [73] The blaze forced evacuations and temporarily closed Yosemite Valley, highlighting risks to national park infrastructure and tourism.[74] Beyond these and the major complexes, California's 2018 fire season encompassed 7,948 wildfires that collectively burned 1,975,086 acres across the state.[1] Other notable events included the Holy Fire in Riverside County, which burned 23,127 acres starting August 6 due to arson and threatened urban interfaces.[75] These secondary fires contributed to the season's widespread strain on resources, though they were overshadowed by the largest blazes in scale and impacts.Response and Containment
Firefighting Operations
Over 14,000 firefighters were mobilized statewide during the peak of the 2018 California wildfire season, including personnel from 17 states as well as Australia and New Zealand, coordinated primarily by CAL FIRE to combat multiple large-scale incidents simultaneously.[76] [77] These resources encompassed thousands of ground vehicles, including fire engines and bulldozers for constructing containment lines, supplemented by aircraft such as C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems (MAFFS) for retardant drops.[78] High winds, often exceeding 50 mph, severely restricted aerial operations by reducing visibility, creating turbulence hazards, and dispersing retardant ineffectively, forcing reliance on ground-based tactics in many areas. Containment efforts emphasized dozer lines—wide barriers cleared of vegetation by bulldozers—and backburning, where controlled fires were ignited to consume fuel ahead of the main fire front, particularly on fires like the Carr and Mendocino Complex.[79] [80] These strategies proved critical in rugged terrain but were frequently overwhelmed in wildland-urban interfaces (WUIs), where embers generated spot fires miles ahead, breaching lines and accelerating structural ignitions despite direct defense efforts.[79] Dozer operations faced additional risks, including rollovers on steep slopes, contributing to firefighter fatalities such as those on the Ferguson and Carr Fires.[81] [82] Federal support through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) included Fire Management Assistance Grants (FMAGs), reimbursing up to 75% of eligible suppression costs for qualifying fires, alongside deployments of military personnel and equipment.[83] [78] Total suppression expenditures for the season surpassed $1 billion at the state level, with federal contributions adding billions more amid the unprecedented scale, reflecting the strain on resources as over 8,500 firefighters alone battled individual megafires like the Thomas Fire earlier in the year.[84]Evacuation and Emergency Management
The Camp Fire, igniting at approximately 6:33 AM on November 8, 2018, prompted evacuation orders beginning at 7:13 AM for the Pulga area, extending to Concow between 7:22 and 7:31 AM, and encompassing all Paradise zones by 8:03 AM.[85] Alerts utilized the CodeRED reverse-911 system, with initial batches dispatched at 7:57 AM targeting zones east of Pentz Road, yet successful deliveries reached only about 6,573 unique phone numbers, covering roughly 17% of the affected population.[85] System overload and a county network outage from 3:00 to 4:00 PM that day further delayed notifications, compounded by power outages disrupting communications and cell tower functionality.[86][87] Evacuation bottlenecks emerged rapidly, with severe gridlock on routes including the Skyway, Pentz Road, Pearson Road, and Highway 99 starting around 8:00–9:00 AM, creating backups up to 15 km south of Paradise and extending travel times to Chico to as long as 4 hours from the typical 20 minutes.[85][86] This congestion trapped vehicles during burnover events, such as on Pentz Road at 8:45 AM and Pearson Road at 9:15 AM, contributing to 19 fatalities—22% of the total 85—occurring amid evacuation efforts, many in vehicles unable to escape fire progression.[85] Survivor accounts and official timelines highlight how narrowed roadways, abandoned vehicles, and overwhelmed intersections exacerbated these traps, with contraflow measures proving ineffective due to blockages from downed lines and debris.[85] In the Woolsey Fire, also starting November 8, 2018, evacuation execution grappled with the blaze's erratic spread, prompting delayed orders in areas like Oak Park where fire speed outpaced resource allocation for notifications.[88] Shelter-in-place directives were applied in select zones, including at Pepperdine University, where officials maintained the strategy averted greater risks despite the fire's tendency to leap barriers and affect presumed safe areas.[87] Congestion plagued the Pacific Coast Highway during Malibu-area outflows on November 9, though contraflow lanes partially alleviated backups for the roughly 295,000 evacuees.[87] These dynamics underscored vulnerabilities when fire behavior bypassed containment zones, leading to revised assessments of shelter efficacy in post-incident reviews.[88]Communication and Infrastructure Challenges
During the Mendocino Complex Fire in July and August 2018, Verizon Wireless throttled the data speeds of the Santa Clara County Fire Department's "unlimited" plan to approximately 600 kilobits per second after it exceeded a 21-gigabyte threshold, despite the department's possession of a federal waiver intended to exempt first responders from such limits during emergencies.[89][90] This reduction, which represented about a 90% drop from prior speeds, hampered real-time data transmission for mapping, resource tracking, and coordination among over 4,000 firefighters combating what became California's largest recorded fire.[91] Santa Clara Fire Chief Anthony Bowning testified to Congress that the throttling persisted until the department paid Verizon an additional $400 monthly fee for a higher-tier plan, prompting bipartisan scrutiny including a query from Senator Edward Markey and Representative Anna Eshoo to the FCC on whether the incident violated emergency communication protocols.[92] Verizon acknowledged the error and committed to waiving data caps for firefighters in future California wildfires.[93] Cell tower infrastructure faced severe disruptions across multiple 2018 fires, exacerbating coordination and alert dissemination. In the Camp Fire that began on November 8, 2018, 17 cell towers were destroyed on the first day, leading to a 94% call failure rate in the hardest-hit areas of Butte County and rendering 66 sites either damaged or offline overall.[94][95] Network overload from simultaneous resident calls compounded the physical damage, causing emergency evacuation alerts via systems like AlertWC to fail to reach over one-third of registered Paradise residents, delaying responses in the fire that killed 85 people.[96][97] Similar outages occurred statewide, with fires damaging fiber backhaul connections essential for data routing, underscoring the vulnerability of wireless networks to overload and destruction in high-wind, rapidly advancing blazes.[97] Power infrastructure challenges indirectly strained communications, as widespread outages from fire-damaged lines and precautionary measures disrupted backup systems for towers and emergency operations centers. Pacific Gas & Electric notified approximately 70,000 customers of potential de-energization on November 6-7, 2018, to mitigate ignition risks amid red flag warnings, though no actual shutoffs occurred due to moderating weather; such alerts highlighted early recognition of utility vulnerabilities but limited proactive grid hardening prior to the Camp and Woolsey Fires' ignitions on November 8.[98] These incidents collectively impaired inter-agency radio interoperability and real-time situational awareness, contributing to logistical delays in resource deployment across the 1.9 million acres burned that year.[75]Human and Economic Impacts
Fatalities and Injuries
The 2018 California wildfire season recorded 100 fatalities among civilians and firefighters, concentrated in several major incidents, with coroner-confirmed data emphasizing direct exposure during rapid fire progression and evacuations.[1] The Camp Fire accounted for 85 deaths, the highest toll of any single wildfire in state history, as victims—predominantly over 60 years old—succumbed to burns and asphyxiation while trapped in vehicles on congested roads fleeing Paradise on November 8, 2018.[99] [100] Butte County coroner reports detailed remains scattered across 15 miles of evacuation routes, underscoring causal factors like extreme fire speed (over 80 acres per minute) overwhelming escape efforts for low-mobility groups, including the elderly and disabled.[48] Rapid DNA analysis enabled identification of all Camp Fire victims, confirming the toll without undercounting amid charred evidence.[101] Other significant fires contributed the remainder, as summarized below:| Fire | Fatalities | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Carr Fire | 8 | Included 7 civilians and 3 firefighters (Jeremy Stoke from fire entrapment, Don Smith from bulldozer rollover in a fire tornado, and Andrew Brake in a pre-assignment vehicle crash); civilians primarily from burns during home defense or evacuation.[102] [103] [104] |
| Woolsey Fire | 3 | Civilians killed by burns in structures near Malibu, with bodies recovered post-containment.[53] |
| Mendocino Complex | 1 | Firefighter Matthew Burchett struck by falling tree debris during suppression on the Ranch Fire segment. [105] |
| Other fires (e.g., Ferguson, smaller incidents) | 3 | Scattered civilian and responder losses from entrapment or accidents.[1] |