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A plume of unstable air streamed into Northern California from the monsoonal storms in Arizona early Monday, triggering dozens of lightning strikes in the tinder-dry forests in the Sierra but was bypassing the San Francisco Bay Area.
A once-smoldering wildfire exploded to life, growing to 21,000 acres Saturday and sending a wall of wind-whipped flames toward the evacuated Sierra community of Markleeville.
With memories still fresh of the devastating lightning complex fires of 2020, the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for the Santa Cruz Mountains and the East Bay and North Bay hills beginning late Sunday morning and lasting through Monday afternoon
As if the weary army of more than 2,100 firefighters battling the Bootleg Fire didn't need any more challenges from Mother Nature, the National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for the burn zone for Saturday afternoon with winds expected to be gusting 30 mph and humidity levels plunging into the single digits.
A massive pyrocumulus cloud towering over the Bootleg Fire sent an avalanche of hot embers and gusty winds raining down on the fire line, helping the blaze grow to 241,407 acres with just 7 percent containment early Friday morning.
Fire crews in the East Bay have contained a vegetation fire burning in the area of Willow Avenue in Hercules late Thursday afternoon that threatened homes, according to officials.
Thunderstorms with chances of dry lightning might make their way to the Bay Area on Sunday and Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
The East Bay Regional Park District received $13.5 million from the state this week to improve its ability to fight wildfires and remove fuels like dead and dying trees, district officials said Thursday.
A blaze that erupted near the flashpoint of the deadliest wildfire in recent U.S. history was heading away from homes on Thursday but survivors of the 2018 blaze in the town of Paradise worried that history could repeat itself.
A wildfire burning in a rural area of Novato Wednesday afternoon has grown to 35 acres and is 40% contained, according to authorities.
A wildfire that broke out in Plumas County Tuesday exploded in size overnight, growing to 1,200 acres not far from the same area devastated by the Camp Fire in 2018.
The city of Santa Cruz this week closed off-trail open spaces that the city owns due to fire risk.
Fire crews in Santa Rosa were able to Sonoma County Fire crews contain a vegetation fire burning south of the city Tuesday evening, according to authorities.
Firefighters battled triple digit temperatures and gusty winds Tuesday as the River Fire, burning in the Sierra Nevada south of Yosemite National Park, grew to more than 9,500 acres, destroyed several structures and triggered mandatory evacuations in Madera County.
The Beckwourth Complex Fire burning near the Nevada border grew to three times the size of San Francisco, by Monday night.
The California Independent System Operator has issued a Flex Alert for 4 to 9 p.m. Monday. Officials said the alert is needed due to the impact of the Bootleg Fire in Oregon on electric transmission lines.
Crews battling the Diablo Fire near Byron have the blaze contained at 128 acres, Cal Fire said.
The raging Bootleg Fire, fueled by tinder-dry forest land and gusty winds in the Fremont-Winema National Forest, exploded in size overnight to more than 146,000 acres near the California-Oregon border.
The Beckwourth Complex -- two lightning-caused fires burning 45 miles north of Lake Tahoe -- showed no sign of slowing its rush northeast from the Sierra Nevada forest region after doubling in size between Friday and Saturday.
With soaring temperatures already pushing California's power grid to the limit, utility officials were keeping a weary eye on the Bootleg Fire that is raging out of control in Southern Oregon and threatening Path 66 -- a vital electric line corridor linking the state with the Oregon power grid.
More than 30 million people are under heat warnings and advisories with more than 93 percent of the West in drought this week. Scientists say heat and drought are inextricably linked in a vicious feedback loop that climate change makes even harder to break.
A cannabis company has reportedly taken responsibility for a wildfire that broke out in Mendocino County on Wednesday and destroyed several structures.
Flames threatening campgrounds and cabins prompted evacuations and closed off a swath of Northern California forest as the state prepared for another weekend of dry, scorching weather and the continuing threat of wildfires.
Fire departments throughout the Bay Area report an increase in fire activity but, so far this season, we haven't seen a wildfire explode out of control. Still, as temperatures again soar, so does the risk.
